6 “‘Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.’”
9:6
“Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.”
Daniel details the sins of Israel in both overt transgression and subtle omission. Israel disregarded God’s words through the prophets (2 Chr 30:10). Rejection of God’s authority is the beginning of spiritual failure. Genuine repentance always comes with honesty and integrity. Daniel did not rationalize, minimize, or justify his people’s sin, but honestly faced the Word of God with courage.
9:7
“O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.”
Daniel contrasts the righteousness of God with the failure of His people. Daniel reveals the culprits responsible for rebellion against God’s Word, and it is not God.
We normally see a person’s shame in his face. This was true in Daniel’s people “driven” into captivity because of their treachery and “unfaithfulness.”
Ps 44:15, “My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me…”
PRINCIPLE:
Confession preempts chastening.
APPLICATION:
God is in the business of disciplining those He loves. When the nation Israel got out of fellowship with God, He sent them into captivity.
Le 26:14-17, “‘But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.’”
When the believer steps out of fellowship with God in a protracted way, God sends discipline into his life for the purpose of correction, not punishment. God does this because He loves His children. God is fair, but we are unfair to Him (“God is righteous in all His works”). He wants to deliver and bless us. We are the only ones standing in the way. Freedom from slavery is useless unless we have an attitude of freedom. Our attitude of freedom comes from the appropriation of God’s truth to experience.
He 12:5-11, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.’
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Confession avoids disaster. It turns cursing into blessing.
