Giving Thanks with Daniel

Our friends in Canada celebrated Thanksgiving six weeks ago on October 14. Many folks in the USA will be consuming turkey with all the trimmings this Thursday. Some may choose ham or roast beef, but the idea is the same: set a bountiful table and enjoy the harvest in gratitude to God, the giver of every perfect gift (Jas 1:17; 1 TIm 4:1-5). Those of us who can set a bountiful table had better make sure we help those who can’t. Otherwise our prayers of thanksgiving ring hollow.

Scripture tells us over and over again that thanksgiving should be constant, that our gratitude shouldn’t rise and fall with our circumstances and preferences. Saint Paul taught us to pray and give thanks in every circumstance (Eph 5:20; 1 Thess 5:17), and he practiced what he preached (Acts 16:25; 1 Cor 1:4). This comes down to praying the promises of God. The prophet Daniel is a powerful model of promise-based prayers that transcend circumstances and preferences.

Remember in Daniel 1 how Daniel turned away from sumptuous food fit for a king to eat only vegetables? Let’s learn how to give thanks with him.

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Go here for our previous Thanksgiving posts.

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The Message of Daniel

In my background Daniel was used in two ways. The kids were taught “Dare to be a Daniel.” Daniel was the model kid who stood up for God during difficult times. When the going got tough, tough Daniel got going. The adults were taught much more sensational lessons about stuff Daniel predicted, like the rise of the Common Market in Europe, the very day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and how to spot the Antichrist. Looking back on all this now, I believe the kids got the better lesson by far! To learn more about about Daniel, check out Dr. Wendy Widder’s commentaries.

As Daniel’s narrative begins, Israel had been defeated by Babylon, and Daniel along with other Jews had been captured and deported to Babylon (Dan 1:1-2). We’ve heard this before, right? Bummer! But these negative circumstances were part of God’s plan. Israel’s rebellion against God had led to God giving Israel into the hands of the Babylonians. Their defeat was a matter of providential discipline, designed to lead the nation to repentance. The book of Daniel was written to teach Israel how to live in exile in expectation of restoration. This sounds a lot like what the New Testament teaches us about being strangers and pilgrims on this earth, people who look for a city made by God (Heb 11:13-16).

Daniel’s Prayers

The prayers of Daniel are worthy of careful study and reflection. Daniel prayed for mercy and insight into Nebuchadnezzar’s dream so that he and his friends would not be killed, and he praised and thanked God when the dream’s interpretation was revealed to him (Dan 2:17-23). Daniel habitually prayed, petitioned, and thanked God three times a day (Dan 6:10-12). In this posture he received visions from God about the days to come (Dan 7-8). Prompted by his understanding meaning of Jeremiah 25:11, Daniel uttered an amazing prayer in Daniel 9:3-21. It contained praise, thanksgiving, confession, and petition. He frankly admitted Israel’s sin, and that Nebuchadnezzar’s victory over Jehoiakim (Dan 1:2) was just punishment. Most of all Daniel prayed that God would restore Jerusalem and the Temple to bring glory to his own name and power. This prayer sets the scene for the visions of Daniel 9:24 to the end of the book. Just like he did in Daniel 6:10-11, Danlel was very likely praying toward Jerusalem.

Why was Daniel praying toward Jerusalem?

Why did Daniel pray with his window open toward Jerusalem? It wasn’t because he was homesick, or because he superstitiously thought of Israel’s God as a local deity who inhabited the Jerusalem area. Some think Daniel prayed in this way to declare publicly his devotion to the God of Israel, even when he knew that doing so would surely lead to persecution (Dan 6:5-16). This may explain the open window, but there’s a lot more to the story.

Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem because he was prompted to do so by another prayer, one prayed by King Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 8:12-53; 2 Chron 6). Solomon mentioned praying toward Jerusalem several times, especially when Israel was defeated in battle and deported to another country (1 Kings 8:44-45; 2 Chron 6:34-39; cf. Ps 28:2; 138:2). And Solomon likely had a passage from the Torah in mind when he prayed his prayer. Deuteronomy 30:1-10 speaks of a time when Israel will turn back to God after a season of disobedience leading to exile. When Israel repents, God will compassionately restore them to prosperity in their land, and, more importantly, will circumcise their hearts, confirming them in sincere love and obedience.

This truth-trajectory—from Deuteronomy 30 to 1 Kings 8 to Daniel 6—shows us that we can’t link God’s faithfulness to our momentary personal situations and preferences. It’s easy to thank God during the best of times. Will we join Moses, Solomon, and Daniel in thanking him for his faithfulness when he permits us to experience the worst of times? Daniel’s prayer toward Jerusalem and the Temple was a prayer of faith in the promises of God. Jerusalem and the Temple were a pile of rubble when Daniel prayed in faith, believing that God could bring Israel back to the promised land and rebuild the Temple where the God of Heaven had taken up his dwelling on the earth (1 Kings 8:27-30; Dan 9:16-19).

Will we still pray the promises of God if everything we love—our health, our family, our career . . . has been destroyed?

Praying toward Jerusalem at Thanksgiving

Wendy Widder’s understanding of the message of Daniel is especially fitting at Thanksgiving. Here’s how she puts it:

As followers of Jesus, we live in exile in Babylon—wherever in the twenty-first-century world we find ourselves. We live under foreign overlords, human kings whose values rarely reflect those of God’s eternal king and kingdom. We face the challenge of faithfulness when our respective cultures and societies make demands on us that violate the life-giving law of God. Some of us suffer greatly for following the King of Kings. While we await the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth—the New Jerusalem filled with Jew and Gentiles alike because of the finished work of Christ—we live in both exile and expectation. (Daniel: God’s Kingdom Will Endure, p. 37)

Daniel still speaks powerfully to God’s pilgrim people who look forward to a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:8-16). Whatever our circumstance this week, and whether we are enjoying our preferences or not, we can be thankful that God is good and faithful. These are not the days for us to think that God guarantees us goods and services. Let’s be thankful for the bounty on the table, but for a moment let’s take our eyes off the turkey and look out “windows open toward Jerusalem.” Let’s thank the heavenly Father whose faithfulness transcends our changing circumstances and assures us of eternal life through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.

Comment below on what it means for you to pray “with windows open toward Jerusalem” this Thanksgiving.

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I leave you with Patty Loveless’ and Ricky Skaggs’ bluegrass version of an old southern gospel song written in 1946 by G. T. “Dad” Speer: “Daniel Prayed“.