Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Da 9:20–21.
Daniel is praying while in captivity in Babylon. There are no sacrifices being made according to the custom. However, Daniel was praying on the basis of a sacrifice made almost 70 years prior. Apparently,what started as a custom had become deeply personal.
Daniel was “linking” his prayer to previous sacrifices because he was now in a place that would not allow it. He knew that the door for his prayer was the sacrifice or better still, the blood of the sacrifice. He was praying in a time between the animal sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. The idea of depending on what had already been done was a foreshadowing of a greater and final act of sacrifice.
We are in a very similar place in time. Our conduit to God is provided by what has already been done. Jesus gave Himself that we may have access to God and every time that we pray we “link” our prayer to that past sacrifice and present relationship.
We should model our prayer by Daniel. It was His heart that I’m sure God saw immediately. Verse 20 states that he was speaking, praying, confesing his sin as well as the sin of the group in which he belonged. When confession and conversation were finished he made his request known to the LORD. His request was “for the Holy mountain of my God”. His need was that God restore Jerusalem.