Day Four: Mercy and A War in The Waiting

Daniel 9:8 "To the LORD our God belong mercy (7356) and forgiveness."  Mercy!  There's that word again.  He's the only one who is the true mercy-giver.  In chapter 9, Daniel begins his supplication for Israel.  I don't intend to make too many parallels to what is currently going on in my life with Daniel's prayer, but there is a part that strikes me so deeply that I have it's words on my kitchen wall.  It's the urgency with which Daniel is asking (begging?) God to act.  It's the heartfelt words I was already speaking but didn't know they were written here in scripture.  It's the tears I cried when I heard this reference at Carol Howard's ladies retreat.  It's the word "desolate" that he uses and how desolate I have often felt, myself.

"So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on your desolate sanctuary.  O my God, incline Your ear and hear!  Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.  O Lord, hear!  O Lord, forgive!  O Lord, listen and take action!  For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." (Daniel 9:17-19)

Oh, my, how often we feel that God is very, very delayed.  Don't you feel Daniel crying from the depths of his soul with this intercession and begging him to not delay an answer?  Gabriel came to Daniel while he was still in the middle of praying and says, "At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed."  

I don't know how much time passed between chapter 9 & 10.  Remember?  I'm not the scholar here, but here we see that Daniel goes back to mourning and fasting and praying.  How many of us would mourn after a message from Gabriel, himself, had come to us?  I might think that I would say instead, "See!  Gabriel says I'm being listened to, so my work here is done.  I'm gonna go eat me a peppered rib-eye steak from Skeets and let God just do what he's gonna do!"  Yet, it is in mourning and fasting and praying that God reveals His vision for me and those around me just as He did for Daniel.  That's why there IS a "time for mourning."  So many times we think we are just whining, and maybe that is true.  But a desperate plea to the Lord, most high, is never something that falls on deaf ears.  Do we feel like our pleas fall on deaf ears?  Well, I do sometimes.  I feel like he is way too delayed in answering my prayers.  In Daniel's time of mourning and fasting he sees another vision and hears the words of a "certain man."  He falls into a "deep sleep on [his] face, with [his] face to the ground."  Gee, that sounds relatively familiar. This "certain man" says to Daniel in chapter 10:12, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.  But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.  Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future."  Did you see it?  Or did you miss it?  21 days.  I'm not sure what 21 days means in heaven's timing but even if it meant an actual 21 of our days, did you see what was happening while Daniel was waiting and waiting for an answer?  A WAR.  When did God began listening to Daniel?  From the very moment that Daniel set his heart on understanding and humbling himself.  Did Daniel get to know in the flesh right away that he was being listened to?  No.  Sometimes I don't see the answer I want or even the answer that I think I need, but because the battle is "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12) sometimes that is the actual delay in an answer.  He will still come in response to our words.  There is no need to be afraid!  I don't feel my needs or desires are as important as Daniel's when I am reading this sometimes but then I have to remember:  It is prayer that unleashes the heavenlies.  I can't be numb, and unmoved.  It is when I MOVE that He unleashes the heavenlies on my behalf, even if I don't see it right away.  I can't just shrug my shoulders, go eat a steak, and forget that I'm in pain and that others around me are in pain...  I need to plea to God and ask with pure motives (James 4:3).  He WILL answer!  And some day no matter if His answer is easy or if it is an answer that comes with more challenges, I will have His peace.  I will have it because that is the way my God works!

Praising Him for the answer He already has for me!
Praising Him while I wait for Him to work!

My personal prayer and paraphrase of Daniel 9:17-19:

Oh God, I am asking you to shine Your face on my own desolate sanctuary.  I'm asking you to not delay in answering for Your OWN SAKE.  Not because I'm so good and because I deserve it, but because you are full of MERCY.  You are the author of mercy.  You esteem me not because of my goodness, but because of Your own goodness and grace.  

In Jesus' Name, 

Real & Raw Day Three: Mercy in a Word

Some time had passed after peeling myself from the floor.  I had dried my tears, I had finished what I was working on in the bathroom and I was left with a question that was as insistant for an answer as the need was to cry out to Jesus in the first place.  The reason I had the following question, I'm going to leave as something private.  Imagine that!  I'm certainly not being very private here lately!  But my question was:  What does the word "mercy" mean?  I do know what I think it means, but how is that word actually used in scripture?  I really didn't even quite understand everything about why I cared, but I just knew that I needed to know the answer!

I asked Whitley, "Would you please look up the Hebrew word for 'mercy' and read the definition to me?"  This is the kind of question that is right up my husband's alley.  Just as a reminder to my family and I and any readers who might appreciate the giggle, this is what the "table" next to my husband's chair looks like at this very moment:

All of these books take their turns at being on the top of the stack.  There are at least 7 different Bible translations here all the time.  There is an assortment of concordances or other references that he uses while studying and there are a few books that don't relate to all things Bible but relate to farming and eating the way we should.  This table consists of just the pertinent, often thumbed through and studied or "I just like to look at it" material.  I'm not going to mention our hallway...  Let's just say there's enough in the hallway alone to get anyone through Seminary!  My husband is a studier of the scriptures and I've always adored him for it.  I love His Word too, but I don't guess I exactly attack it quite like I'm going to stand in a pulpit and proclaim it on Sunday.  He does quite often!

Anyway, he asked me for a scripture that I would like to relate the word to so that he could look up the number and give me the definition.  It was when he showed me that that I instantly began to understand why I needed to see its definition(s).  I had chosen just one scripture from looking in my "plain ol'" Bible's concordance.  I chose Romans 9:15, which I then realized was actually Paul quoting what God had said to Moses in Exodus 33:17-19.  So that was the reference in Whitley's Keyword Study Bible that we ended up using to get the Strong's number:

"A verb meaning to have compassion, to have mercy, to find mercy.  The word pictures a deep, kindly sympathy and sorrow felt for another who has been struck with affliction or misfortune, accompanied with a desire to relieve the suffering."  Nothing about this definition surprised me at first.  But, then we read the meaning when this word is used as a noun.

"A feminine noun meaning womb, compassion, mercy, affection, maiden.  The singular form of this word always signified the physical womb of a woman and was commonly used in this way (Genisis 49:25).  Yet when the plural form was used, the author had in mind the idea of compassion, tenderness, or mercy.  Old Testament authors thought of the womb as a seat of warm and tender emotions.  For example, when Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, he became overwhelmed with tender affection (literally wombs Genesis 43:30)."

Wow.  When I was crying out to Jesus for mercy concerning my own womb and its misfortune, I didn't even have to say "have mercy on my womb" if I had been speaking Hebrew.  I'm not suggesting that Jesus doesn't understand my English, of course!  I'm suggesting that the word mercy covered all of my feelings and desires!  The Holy Spirit interceeded for me (again) with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26)  Crying out to mercy for my "affliction or misfortune" as well as my desire for a baby to fill my womb again is more of a beautiful thought to me today than a painful one.  

Tomorrow I'll write about my further revelations concerning this great word.  Some of you know by now that I have a scripture from Daniel that has been hanging in my kitchen for a month.  He uses the 7356 meaning for mercy at one point or more.  I'll be looking more at it this evening.  I have prayed this scripture I will be writing about ever since I went to Carol Howard's ladies retreat in March.  It's good, good stuff.

I am drawing near to you, Jesus.  Thank you for drawing near to me. (James 4:8) Thank you, Lord, for being near to the brokenhearted... (Ps. 34:18)