138 - Sackcloth, Ashes and Prayer

Solemn Meaningful prayer

In the first year of Darius ... Daniel, understood the number of the years by books, which came of the Word of Jehovah to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Daniel 9:2.  

Now, in the latter part of Daniel's life, by reading the books of Jeremiah, he finally understood that Jerusalem would sit in its demolished state for seventy years.  Jeremiah had written: And it shall be, when seventy years are fulfilled I will punish the king of Babylon. Jer. 25:12.

I set my face toward the Lord God, to seek by prayer and holy desires, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.  Do any of us have his kind of passion for prayer?  Obviously, we would not expect ourselves to wear sackcloth, but, on the other hand, we do make sure we are comfortable.  Daniel was a man who knew what prayer was all about, but not so the modern church.  I have heard people who, supposedly in prayer, were making jokes.  

with fasting.  When Daniel says that he was fasting, perhaps we should not think that he was going entirely without any food.  Later he explains how he fasts: I ate no food for delight, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. 10:3.  When we do pray, are we at least serious about it?  When we give thanks for our food, do we even pay attention to the words we are saying or are they just memorised speeches used to impress Jehovah? 

and sackcloth, Daniel went to the discomfort of wearing that very uncomfortable sackcloth.  How comfortable do we need to be when we pray?  When I was a child, we used to kneel on a rough wooden floor in the church, to pray;  then, as times changed we would stand to pray but now we do not even bother to do that.  We just sit comfortably in our cushioned pews;  The preacher closes his eyes, says some words, and we sit there with our eyes closed, our hands folded and pretend to be praying!  

and ashes. As if sackcloth wasn't bad enough. Daniel sat in the ashes, or had ashes on his head, to indicate his deep sorrow for his sins and the sins of his people.

And I prayed to Jehovah my God and said, O Lord, the great and awesome God, 9:3-4. Daniel started his prayer with worship. In the prayer that Christ taught us, he also started with worship, Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Matthew 6:7. 

We most likely start our prayers something like this, Dear Father in heaven, I need a new ________.

Daniel continued his prayer with a confession of sins; his own sins and the sins of his people; we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Your commandments and from Your judgments. 9:5.   Christ also included that element in "The Lord's Prayer"; and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Mat 6:12.  

Here is the reason for our countries' calamities;  As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we did not make our prayer before Jehovah our God.  Corruption at all levels of business dealings; death to drug dealers and also at the hands of drug dealers; gun violence; injustice among judges; moral degradation among the senators of our nations, and the list goes on indefinitely.  

Here are the cure and the only hope for our nations; that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth. 9:13.   A life of real prayer will certainly cause us to turn from our life of iniquity to a life where we will be honest and morally upright.  

If every Christian of the Christian faith and every devout North American Muslim would pray for the welfare of our countries it could be that Jehovah would spare our nations from the imminent destruction that is looming over our heads.  If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron. 7:14 

After all that I have written about prayer, I need to also mention the obverse of my statements.  There is distinctly a place in prayer for proper decorum; for some people that will include ritual.  However, we must be careful that form and ritual do not become more important than our communication with our Father.  

About fifteen years ago I made it a deliberate choice to delete all non-vital ritual from my life.  That decision has helped set me free from a lot of redundancy.  I am not sure I would recommend this for everyone, but for me, it was a big step toward spiritual freedom.

Of course, there are emergency prayers when there is no time for worship, thanksgiving or confession of sins.  When you make a 911 call you do not talk about the weather, about the stock market or the presidential election; you get right to the point.  About emergency prayers our loving Father says,  And it will be, before they call I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24.  However, emergency prayers should not be the bulk of our praying! 

O my God, bow down Your ear and hear. ... For we do not present our prayers before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies. 9:18.  

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him.  It is not because we are so wonderful that the Lord our God forgives us.  He forgives us because it is His nature to forgive.

We have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in His Laws which He set before us by His servants the prophets.    Most of those people who do not believe that the Bible is inspired by Jehovah, still, usually, admit that the moral laws and teachings of the Bible are a benefit to society.  

Since this is true, why do so many intelligent educators insist on removing the Bible from the country's classrooms?  Why do our national judges bend over backwards to pass laws which so distinctly go against the teachings of the Bible?  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness for light and light for darkness; ... Woe to those wise in their own eyes, and bright in their own sight! 

Woe to those ... who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!  Isaiah 5:20-23. You cheat the innocent out of a fair trial. Contemporary English Version.