Read Daniel 9:20-23. How does the word ‘while’ emphasize timing?
The angel Gabriel came to Daniel…
verse 20: ‘while “I was speaking and praying”’
verse 21: ‘while “I was still in prayer”’
Imagine you’re in the throes of desperate pleas to God, pouring out confessions and cries of intercession, when suddenly you’re interrupted by a celestial messenger who says something like, ‘Sorry I took so long. I got here as fast as I could. God sent me with your answer.’ Would you faint now or later? “LOL”
We have no idea how often he prayed spontaneously, but how often did he practice planned times of prayer according to Daniel 6:10? “three times a day”
As many times as you’ve prayed before, today may be the day when God sends the answer so swiftly – so divinely – that you’re windburned.
How does Isaiah 65:24 echo Daniel’s experience?
“God begins answering before we begin asking and hears all”
As he cried out to God, what did David after offer instead of incense (Psalm 141:1-2)?
“his prayer”
What did he offer instead of an evening sacrifice?
“his lifted hands”
In your own words, what do you think this scholar means?
“God prefers to act as an answer to prayer, and he already knows if someone will ask, whom, and when.
“(As a mom – especially of a boy on the autism spectrum – I am reminded of moments when I knew what Daniel was beginning to want or need, but fought the urge to supply it before he had the chance to practice using his words and growing his social and self-advocating skills)”
How does Psalm 31:19 lend support to this concept?
“It says He has stored up His great goodness for those who fear Him.”
Dearest Rachel –
Sometimes, it isn’t the voluminous answers that get my attention on your notes, honey; who else would write a little laughing note in the margin of her workbook like that?
To be sure, it is a funny scenario to imagine, in part because we can hardly picture it happening to the likes of ourselves. We don’t think of God answering prayer in such a tangible (and immediate) way, let alone with an angel showing up, winded and weary, apologizing to us for not being there sooner for… reasons. Not that God couldn’t do that, obviously, but as He hasn’t done so for so long (and those who claim He has in living memory often proving themselves to be charlatans, or worse), we tend to think He simply doesn’t do that – or at least, not anymore.
By doing so, we’ve put limits on what we think of God being capable of doing, haven’t we? And once we put limits on God’s abilities (or effectively do so by concluding that “God wouldn’t do it that way”), we weaken the argument for calling out to Him in the first place: “What’s the point? It’s not like He’ll actually do anything” about this or that issue. And when I say ‘we,’ I mean ‘I’; I wouldn’t claim that you have such limited faith as all this. Why, you would offer prayers when you were looking for something missing in the house (which, according to you, would actually work more often than not). Meanwhile, I rarely find myself wanting to bother Him with my petty wishes – and to be fair, they’re often pretty selfish, and probably not within His will for me, anyway, but it shouldn’t hurt to at least ask.
I wonder how much of whatever goes unfulfilled in my life is a simple case of “you have not, because you ask not.” He wants to give good things to me, but it may well be that until I actually request them of Him, He’s going to withhold them from me. Not out of spite or malevolence, but just because He wants me to learn to make the request to Him, just like you wanted our Daniel to learn to verbalize what he needed as an advocate for himself.
I doubt that I’m alone in this reluctance to do so – or in the reasons why I’m so reluctant – which further explains why I use the first person plural to admit this. But just because others might come to a similar conclusion – and response – doesn’t excuse my own. I really need to be more faithful and specific in speaking to God and asking Him for certain things – albeit while remembering that the matter is in His hands, and according to His will (and also while being mindful of my own failings, and repenting for them, as Daniel of the scriptures was doing here). He’s not a genie, after all, that I can make any old wish of, but He is more than happy to give good things to those He counts as His children – including insight and wisdom, one would presume. I wouldn’t mind running the risk of getting windburnt, but I realize I have to go to Him first in order for that to have a chance of happening.
To that end, honey, I’d continue to ask that you keep an eye on me, and wish me luck (and perseverance). I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 