Scripture: We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Daniel 9:5 (NKJV)
Observation: we have sinned. Not “they have sinned.” Daniel was a righteous man and the Bible does not record any sin that he committed, but he identified himself with his people in this prayer of intercession. [Andrews Study Bible Notes. 2010 (J. L. Dybdahl, Ed.). Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.] Compare 1 Kings 8:47; Ps. 106:6. Daniel identifies himself with his people. There is no self-righteousness in his prayer.
Application: In the entire bible, we read of very few people whom we would describe as pure and blameless. Jesus, of course, comes to the top of the list immediately as someone who was perfect and sinless in everything he did. An example of purity and wholesomeness is also found in Joseph and Mary, Jesus earthly parents.
In the Old Testament we find the example of two young men, both taken to foreign lands, and both live exemplary lives. Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and yet was able to maintain a positive attitude and a strong connection with God. And the wonderful thing is that God recognized his mellow disposition, his desire to maintain himself pure, and his forgiving spirit and elevated him to the second highest place in the land.
The other character in the Old Testament about whom we don’t read anything for which he should be reproached is Daniel. He was taken into captivity, along with many other young people from Israel, to be retrained in Babylon. From the very beginning of his captivity he exemplified a commitment to God and to the principles he had obviously learned at home and, like Joseph, maintain himself uncontaminated by the Babylonian culture. Like Joseph, God blessed Daniel and elevated him to a high position in the court of Babylon.
What’s interesting about Daniel, among many others, is his prayer of intercession we read in chapter 9. We might not say that Daniel was perfect, or even sinless, but he certainly had demonstrated a stronger commitment to God than many others had. And yet, when he prays for his people he confesses not just their sins but includes himself in their rebellion. He doesn’t say, “they” have sinned, but rather “we” have sinned.
As parents we certainly can’t claim perfection. But what Daniel’s prayer suggest to me is that we can, and should, pray for our children, interceding on their behalf, but we should include ourselves in those prayers. We too have sinned, we have failed God and others, we have rebelled. Our intercessory prayers should not just be a demonstration of our goodness compared to their failures but rather a recognition that as much as they are not perfect we also have fallen short of God’s ideal, that we also struggle with our fallen nature, that need His help as much as they do.
But beside identifying ourselves with them in our intercessory prayers for our children we should also confess our failures, our mistakes, our shortcomings to them. I don’t believe they expect perfection of their parents and feel better when we don’t act as if we know everything and never make a mistake. Being transparent and recognizing we also fall, can help them as they face their own struggles.
A Prayer You May Say: Father God, help us to be more willing to recognize our shortfalls and confess them not only to you but to our children when we make mistakes in the way we treat them.
Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.