5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. (Daniel 9:5-7, ESV)
Through the Bible: Daniel 7-9
Last week was a week of lament. Every day seemed to spotlight a different senseless tragedy. A Ukrainian woman on a subway in Charlotte North Carolina. The murder of a retired professor in Auburn, Alabama. Another school shooting in Colorado. The murder of Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus. The remembrance of 9/11.
When I think of lament, my first instinct is to cry out against the brokenness of the world. Wars and rumors of wars. Corruption in high places. Violence in our streets. Injustice and cruelty that make the headlines every day. All the things that made the Psalmists cry out, over and over, “How long, O Lord?”
There is a place for that—we should cry out to God over the wickedness of the world we live in. But Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 takes us deeper. His lament is not about “those people out there.” It’s about his own people. It’s about himself.
It’s interesting that Daniel 9 begins with the assurance that Israel’s seventy years of exile are coming to an end (see Daniel 9:1-2). You would expect some expression of relief, thanksgiving, gratitude. A press conference. A confident assertion that “Our long national nightmare is over.” A hashtag: #judahstrong, or something.
Yet instead of popping champagne, Daniel grabs sackcloth. Rather than making congratulations, Daniel makes confession. Over and over, Daniel says:
“We have sinned. We have done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.” (Daniel 9:5)
He doesn’t put himself above the problem; he places himself in the middle of it.
This is different from Psalm 44. There, the Psalmist insists, All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant” (Ps 44:17). That lament cries, “We are innocent, yet we suffer.” But Daniel flips it. He admits, “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and giving attention to your truth” (Dan 9:13). His lament cries, “We are guilty, and that’s why we suffer.”
True lament is not crying out to God about the wicked world I live in. It’s repenting for the world of wickedness that lives in me. It is so much easier to lament a broken world than to confess a broken self. But the prophets, the psalmists, and the apostles all remind us: God draws near not to those who justify themselves, but to those who humble themselves.
God’s Response
What does God do with such a prayer? While Daniel is still confessing, Gabriel is already on his way:
At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” (Dan 9:23)
That is God’s response to honest lament. Not silence. Not distance. But nearness. Swift mercy. Tender assurance.
The psalmist said it like this: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18). Daniel’s sackcloth was met with the swift flight of God’s messenger. His confession was met with comfort. His lament was met with love.
A Prayer
Lord, teach me to lament honestly. Not with self-righteous anger at the world, but with brokenhearted confession of my own sin.
Thank you that you are near to the brokenhearted. Thank you for sending your word swiftly, and for whispering to Daniel—and to me—“You are greatly loved.”
Now, begin the healing of the world by healing me. Unite my divided heart. Restore my steps. Let my life bear witness that mercy is greater than judgment, and that love is stronger than sin. Amen.
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