Crying Out from the Ruins: Finding Comfort in Suffering Through Prayer

In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, consulted the books concerning the number of years that, according to the word of GOD that had come to Jeremiah the prophet, were to be the term of Jerusalem’s desolation—seventy years. I turned my face to the Sovereign God, devoting myself to prayer and supplication, in fasting, in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the ETERNAL my God, making confession thus: “O Sovereign, great and awesome God, who stays faithful to the covenant with those who show love and keep the commandments! We have sinned; we have gone astray; we have acted wickedly; we have been rebellious and have deviated from Your commandments and Your rules, and have not obeyed Your servants the prophets who spoke in Your name to our kings, our officers, our ancestors, and all the people of the land. With You, O Sovereign, is the right, and the shame is on us to this very day, on the citizenry of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all Israel, near and far, in all the lands where You have banished them, for the trespass they committed against You. The shame, O ETERNAL One, is on us, on our kings, our officers, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against You. To our Sovereign God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we were rebellious, and did not obey the ETERNAL our God by following the teachings that were set before us through the prophets—God’s servants. All Israel has violated Your teaching and gone astray, disobeying You; so the curse and the oath written in the Teaching of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down upon us, for we have sinned. You carried out the threat You made against us, and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring upon us great misfortune; under the whole heaven there has never been done the like of what was done to Jerusalem. All that calamity, just as is written in the Teaching of Moses, came upon us, yet we did not supplicate the ETERNAL our God, did not repent of our iniquity or become wise through Your truth. Hence GOD was intent upon bringing calamity upon us, for the ETERNAL our God is in the right in all that has been done, but we have not been obedient. “Now, O our Sovereign God—You who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, winning fame for Yourself to this very day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. O my Sovereign, as befits Your abundant benevolence, let Your wrathful fury turn back from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a mockery among all who are around us. “O our God, hear now the prayer of Your servant and his plea, and show Your favor to Your desolate sanctuary, for [Your] sake, O my Sovereign. Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolation and the city to which Your name is attached. Not because of any merit of ours do we lay our plea before You but because of Your abundant mercies. O my Sovereign, hear! O my Sovereign, forgive! O my Sovereign, listen, and act without delay for Your own sake, O my God; for Your name is attached to Your city and Your people!” While I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and laying my supplication before the ETERNAL my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God— while I was uttering my prayer, the figure whom I had previously seen in the vision, Gabriel, was sent forth in flight, and reached me about the time of the evening offering. He made me understand by speaking to me and saying, “Daniel, I have just come forth to give you understanding. A word went forth as you began your plea, and I have come to tell it, for you are precious; so mark the word and understand the vision. “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city until the measure of transgression is filled and that of sin complete, until iniquity is expiated, and eternal righteousness ushered in; and prophetic vision ratified, and the Holy of Holies anointed. You must know and understand: From the issuance of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the [time of the] anointed leader is seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, square and moat, but in a time of distress. And after those sixty-two weeks, the anointed one will disappear and vanish. The army of a leader who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary, but its end will come through a flood. Desolation is decreed until the end of war. During one week he will make a firm covenant with many. For half a week he will put a stop to the sacrifice and the grain offering. At the corner [of the altar] will be an appalling abomination until the decreed destruction will be poured down upon the appalling thing.”

Daniel 9:1–20 records one of Scripture's most profound penitential prayers. Studying Jeremiah's prophecy of the seventy years, Daniel turns his face toward the Sovereign God with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. His prayer confesses the nation's sin, acknowledges God's righteousness, and pleads for mercy—modeling how suffering becomes the very place where comfort is sought and found.