Daniel 10:12
“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.”
Suggested Scripture readings – Daniel 10
“Daddy, why do we pray each night?” The five-year-old daughter looked questioningly at her daddy. It was bedtime and as they did each night they knelt beside her bed and prayed to the Heavenly Father. “Well, why do you think we pray?” came the thought provoking reply. It helped her think through her question and gave her dad a few extra minutes to think of a good answer.
“Well, maybe to get stuff.” She offered as a response.
“But, do you get all the stuff you asked for?” dad questioned.
“No, I been praying for some stuff a long time and still God hasn’t given it to me yet.” She said.
“Why then do you keep praying?” he challenged.
She considered and shrugged her shoulders.
“Do you think God hears our prayers?” he wondered.
“I think so.” “I hope so.” she answered.
“Me too!” he smiled at her.
Daddy thought for a minute then said, “You know, there is a story in the Bible that answers that question.” Daniel was a wonderful man who loved God very much. He was praying for his people who had sinned. The Bible says that he had prayed for three whole weeks and still had not heard an answer from God.”
“Boy, he must have been tired!” she exclaimed.
“He sure was! He was even mourning for the people. That means he was very sad because of their sin and he because he thought that God had not heard his prayers. Finally, after three weeks God sent a special messenger to him that said that God had heard his prayers ever since he had started praying three weeks ago.”
“But, He had not answered him!” interrupted the daughter.
“Well, He actually had but the answer took a while to come. The important lesson when we pray is that, whether we see God’s answer or not, we should keep praying faithfully. Praying helps us feel closer to God. It helps us to understand things like He understands them. We can be sure that God hears us even though we don’t always get our answers immediately.” dad explained.
With a new understand and bright expectant eyes she exclaimed “OK then, lets pray some more! I like feeling close to God!” And she kept praying.
Child of God, you have probably prayed for some things for years without seeing the answer you were looking for. Don’t get discouraged. Keep on praying. Fear not,
“For from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand,
and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard.”
