December 3, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

A Peek at the Script

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Dear God, the Ever Good One, as I open Your Word, open to me the Bread of Life that I may be satisfied and share with others.

Read Daniel 9:20–27

[20] While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill- [21] while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. [22] He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. [23] As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision: [24] “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. [25] “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. [26] After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. [27] He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isa. 65:24, KJV). Have confidence when you pray today.

 

What happens when we pray? Does prayer make a difference? Here, almost uniquely, we are taken behind the scenes and see how Daniel’s prayer is shaping events. A vision comes in response to his praying and Gabriel comes to tell him that his prayer has been heard and an answer is on its way. His prayer will lead to deeper understanding, as all true prayer should, for it echoes with the heart of God. Gabriel also assures this faithful man of God that his constancy has not been overlooked.
However, the answer Gabriel gives is not to the question Daniel asked. Daniel wants to know if the nation will soon return to the land of Israel. God, however, wants Daniel to see the big picture, within which his desire is only a detail. We often get boxed in to specifics when God wants us to find comfort in his overarching purpose. Returning to the land is not enough. A change of geographical location will not bring about salvation. For that, a longer view is required and much water will pass under the bridge before that will happen. 
The Anointed One must first come, but that lies hundreds of years in the future. Part of that deliverance will involve his death (26). Worse still, his coming will lead in due time to the further destruction of the city to which God’s people shortly hope to return (26). Whatever one makes of the details of this vision, this much is clear: whatever plans dominate our thinking we must never lose sight of the ultimate purpose of God. It is when we see our part as a link in the chain that we will develop both the humility and the perseverance to see it through. Lift up your eyes!

What happens when we pray? Does prayer make a difference? Here, almost uniquely, we are taken behind the scenes and see how Daniel’s prayer is shaping events. A vision comes in response to his praying and Gabriel comes to tell him that his prayer has been heard and an answer is on its way. His prayer will lead to deeper understanding, as all true prayer should, for it echoes with the heart of God. Gabriel also assures this faithful man of God that his constancy has not been overlooked.

However, the answer Gabriel gives is not to the question Daniel asked. Daniel wants to know if the nation will soon return to the land of Israel. God, however, wants Daniel to see the big picture, within which his desire is only a detail. We often get boxed in to specifics when God wants us to find comfort in his overarching purpose. Returning to the land is not enough. A change of geographical location will not bring about salvation. For that, a longer view is required and much water will pass under the bridge before that will happen. 

The Anointed One must first come, but that lies hundreds of years in the future. Part of that deliverance will involve his death (26). Worse still, his coming will lead in due time to the further destruction of the city to which God’s people shortly hope to return (26). Whatever one makes of the details of this vision, this much is clear: whatever plans dominate our thinking we must never lose sight of the ultimate purpose of God. It is when we see our part as a link in the chain that we will develop both the humility and the perseverance to see it through. Lift up your eyes!

 

Apply

Read again verses 20–23. What do these verses say to you? What response are you planning to make?

Closing prayer

Gracious Father, like Daniel I can be consumed with the present and miss the bigger picture. Lift my eyes to the horizon and remind me that You are in control.

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