For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. It is comforting to know God doesn t hear our prayers because we are righteous, but because of his righteousness and faithfulness toward us. Daniel was at least 65 years old when he prayed this prayer. He had been taken from his homeland when he was just a boy 12-15 years old. He had spent his life with his back against the wall.
Sin has a way of putting our backs against the wall.
It was because of Daniel s sins and Israel s sins that Daniel lived with nowhere to look but up. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.