Daniel was
in trouble. He and his people had been
carried off to a foreign land by an invading army and the city of Jerusalem had
been destroyed. Daniel did not know what
to do, so he began to pray. He confessed
the sins of his people and asked God to restore them to their land.
As he was
praying, the angel Gabriel came to him and said, “Daniel, I have come to give
you insight and understanding. As soon
as you began to pray, an answer was given” (Daniel 9:22-23).
Did you
catch that? “As soon as you began to
pray, an answer was given”. What an
amazing
verse! Think about what that
means.
First, it
means that prayer is more powerful than what we sometimes imagine. I struggle to pray sometimes because it seems
as though my words simply echo off the walls and never go anywhere or have any
effect. However, this verse shows
otherwise. When people pray, God listens
and acts.
Second, I
think this verse implies that we often miss the blessing of God, not because he
could not bless us, help us or sort things out, but simply because we do not
ask. In fact, James 4:2 says that very
thing: “You do not have because you do not ask God”.
In Daniel’s
case, the answer was prepared. All
Daniel had to do was ask for it and then God set the whole thing in
motion. It is almost like all the
dominoes were lined up just waiting for someone to knock over the first one to
get things going. That first domino
dropped when Daniel prayed.
Interestingly,
Daniel has a similar experience in the next chapter of his book. This time he prays and the angelic messenger
says, “Your words were heard and I have come in response to them” (Daniel
10:12). Isn’t that amazing? Again, the answer was given, but only after
Daniel prayed.
Now, let me
make one disclaimer: While I could show
you literally hundreds of Biblical examples of people’s prayers being answered,
there is no guarantee that you will always get the answer that you want. God is still in control and it is up to him
to decide what is best for us. Praying
is not like putting money in a vending machine.
You will not always get what you think you need.
Ask
anyway!
The answer you
need may be just waiting for you.
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