God had punished the children of Judah for their disobedience by sending them to the land of Babylon for seventy years. When Daniel prays this prayer, it is at the end of these seventy years. Daniel knows from the prophecies of Jeremiah that after the seventy years, if the people repented, they would be allowed to return to Jerusalem again.

Daniel knows that God always keeps his promises. And that is why he can pray this prayer of repentance with hope. God had said that they would return to Jerusalem after seventy years if they repented of their sins.

In this prayer, Daniel humbles himself before the Lord, confessing his sins and the sins of the people. Daniel prays in a very reverent way. He does not tell the Lord that their sins were not really too bad or ask the Lord to just forget about the sins they had done. Instead, he tells God how terribly they have all sinned. He says, “We have done wickedly and have rebelled. We did not listen to your prophets or kings. We have not obeyed your laws.”

Do you know that we can use Daniel’s prayer to pray our prayers? Tell the Lord that you have sinned wickedly. Tell God that you are sorry for disobeying your parents, for having anger in your heart, for being nasty to your brother, for not loving God with all your heart. Point out to God that he is faithful and righteous.

If you pray this kind of prayer, where you confess your sinfulness to the Lord, then you will be given hope and peace. Then God will show you that he is faithful and that he does forgive your sins.

It is very hard to pray this way, but ask the Lord to show you your sins and he will help you. Ask for forgiveness, and God, who is always faithful, will forgive you and draw you close to himself. He will love you and help you to keep loving him.

Reflection with your child:

Why is it so important to confess our sins to God?

Source: Sermon by Rev. D. Poppe