Christians, for the most part, have drifted away from sin and confession. We would never deny the idea of sin, or the need of confession. It is just that we don’t seem to talk much about it. You might say, it is not part of our natural flow these days.
Consider the natural flow in the first nineteen verses of chapter nine.
· First, Daniel sets the events he is about to describe in a Biblical frame of reference.
· Second, Daniel immerses himself in the Word of God.
· Third, the Word of God produces in Daniel a true sense of the situation which leads to confession of sin.
Let’s look at each in turn.
Set in time
There is an old-school way of describing what year we are living in. People used to say, “The Year of the Lord”. For example, to describe a date, people would say, The sixth day of December in the year of our Lord, two-thousand and twenty.
We’ve become more efficient in telling one another the date. However, perhaps in the process we’ve lost something. When we note we are living in the year of our Lord, we are stating a belief in what phase Biblical time we are living in.
To live in the Year of the Lord is to live after Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. We live as people who know that if we confess our sins, He who is faithful will forgive our sins. We live knowing Jesus will return.
Immersed in the Word of God
Daniel highlights how he was immersed in the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is a deep book of the Bible. He was seeking to understand the fate of Jerusalem.
In the prior reflection I noted the digging into the Scriptures is meant to increase more than just the knowledge in our heads. It is meant to increase our hearts.
Apparently, it did for Daniel.
Grounded in reality and God’s Word leads to Confession
Confession is the necessary beginning. It is a fruit of studying God’s Word.
C.S. Lewis writes that confession and penitence is the threshold of prayer.
Augustine writes that confession of evil works is the beginning of good works.
Daniel’s confession is stunning. It runs the gambit of confession at both a national and personal level.
Did you ever wonder in one person could confess the sin of a nation? You can. Daniel does. The text shows that God hears and responds.
Today, Daniel models for us a real sense of perspective. Perspective in regard to where he stands in relative to God’s plan for the world. Perspective in regard who he is as he emerges from God’s Word. It is a perspective that leads to confession.
Confession is truly the flow. For many people this is a natural flow. Where does confession fall in your flow?