"Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud:
Blessed and worthy of praise are YOU,
O LORD GOD of our fathers!
YOUR name is glorious forever!
Justice is in all that YOU do;
YOUR acts are faultless, YOUR ways are right,
YOUR judgments always true.
YOU have indeed given a just sentence in bringing evil upon us and upon Jerusalem, the Holy City of our fathers. YOU have acted in accordance with truth and justice, as punishment for our sins.
For we have sinned and acted perversely by deserting YOU. We have sinned gravely in everything and have not listened to YOUR commandments. We have not observed them, and we have not fulfilled everything YOU commanded us for our good,
All the evils YOU have brought upon us, all that YOU have done to us, YOU have done according to YOUR just sentence.
YOU have given us into the hands of our enemies, lawless people, the worst of the impious, into the hands of an unjust king, the most perverse in all the world.
And today, we cannot even open our mouths; shame and humiliation have overcome those who serve and worship YOU.
Do not abandon us forever, do not reject YOUR Covenant for YOUR name's sake.
Do not withdraw YOUR mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, YOUR friend, of Isaac, YOUR servant, of Israel, YOUR holy one, to whom YOU promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.
LORD, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins.
At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer YOU holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to YOU the first fruits of our crops, and so obtain YOUR favor.
But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to YOU, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs.
May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us YOUR favor, for we know that those who trust in YOU shall never be disappointed.
And now, we serve YOU with our whole heart, we fear YOU and we seek YOUR face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to YOUR kindness and YOUR great mercy. Free us, in keeping with YOUR wonders, and give us the glory of YOUR name, LORD." - Daniel 3:25-43
(Daniel's prayer teaches the persecuted Jews what they must say to GOD: "LORD, remember YOUR promises and forget our sins. Have compassion on YOUR humiliated people and come to save us,"
Even though GOD works a miracle in this story, history records that many martyrs did not escape death. According to the Letter to the Hebrews 11:39, those martyrs were not granted the gift of seeing the fulfillment of GOD's promises: GOD brought them to a better destiny after their death. So, Daniel is a model for believers when, in certain circumstances, they find themselves alone before a hostile crowd or tyrannical power. Daniel refuses to do what GOD condemns.)
No comments:
Post a Comment