29. Wednesday after Fourth Sunday in Advent.
Let thy word, O God, lighten our eyes
and shine upon our path. Amen.
Daniel 9, 15-19. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken, and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God; for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
❦
There was a deep sense of sin and guilt in the holy man of God, Daniel. With all his heart he recognized that God had done all things well, but that he and his people had done evil. Daniel was a man of great piety, and he had feared God of a pure heart from his childhood, so that the scriptures do not even make mention of any infirmity in him. But he feels himself most intensely as a unit with his people, so that their sins are his and his sins theirs. We, we have sinned, says he. In humble contrition he bows to the judgments of the Lord; his whole soul confesses, that they are righteous. This is the true conversion to God; such hearts receive joy in the Lord.
Let us, also, view our lives in the light of God’s countenance. Has he not gotten himself renown over us? Could he have shown us greater love than this, that he gave his only begotten Son? Did he not adopt us as his children in holy baptism, and has he not since that time with unspeakably great patience sought us and borne with us? Try to place before your eyes in one heap, as it were, all the gifts which you have received from him, all the spiritual and bodily blessings which he has conferred on you, and then consider in what manner you have thanked and rewarded him; and you will be terrified because of your sin, and wonder at his grace and goodness. Every act of his providence in your life was love; even all his righteous judgments were the servants of his mercy; it was his purpose to enable you to recover yourself out of the snare of the devil, and to give you the peace and happiness of a new heart. For this reason he chastised you and let you taste the bitter fruit of your own sins and those of your fathers. But you did not understand it. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” O, let the truth control your thoughts now! Do not think contrary to the word of God, but let God the Holy Ghost shape your thought after the word. Then will you have the disposition of Daniel; and he that prays as Daniel did is ready to hear the Christmas gospel.
Grant us this grace, merciful God. Let thy Spirit show us our sins and lead us to the fountain of grace. Amen.*
Show pity, Lord! O Lord, forgive!
Let a repenting rebel live.
Are not thy mercies large and free?
May not a sinner trust in thee?
Great God, thy nature hath no bound,
So let thy pardoning love be found.
O wash my soul from every sin,
And make my guilty conscience clean!
[suggested tune: Windham, TLH 612; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.