Meditations from Daniel: The Desolate Sanctuary

I’m studying the book of Daniel, and to start, I would just like to preface this meditation with one word: Whoa.

The book of Daniel is incredibly rich. On my first time through, I simply wrote down the verses and things that struck my heart, and as I continue my exploration of this piece of the Word, I have decided to write out some my meditations that seem too meaty to keep to myself.

The Desolate Sanctuary [Daniel 9:17]

In chapter 9, you will find what I would consider to be one of the most heart moving prayers recorded in the Bible. The position of Daniel’s heart is so correct that as he speaks to the Lord, it brings about a crescendo of emotions that draw you into his prayer and into worship. The verse I am considering today hit me like a ton of bricks as the weight of its reality fell on me.

Daniel 9:17 “Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for Your own sake, O Lord, make Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, for it is desolate.”

The word desolate is one of the most heart wrenching words I can think of. It encompasses the following descriptions: barren (fruitless, unable to produce), devastated (laid to waste), abandoned (deserted), lonely (without companionship), destitute (lacking what is required to sustain) and sorrowful (gloom).

A sanctuary is a holy place, anointed for worship. It is a place for God and man to draw near to each other. A place that should ring with prayer and praise. A place where people should gather to be filled and to bring to the Lord all they have to offer Him. A place where hearts should resonate with the presence and beauty of the Lord. The scene surrounding and filling God’s sanctuary should look something like this:

Psalm 68:24–27 “Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary--the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines: ‘Bless God in the great congregation, the Lord, o you who are of Israel’s fountain!’ There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.”

Music and praise and crowds of people filing in to worship the Lord; what a lovely, deserving, heart-moving visual.

Daniel knows what should be; he knows that they are stuck in a foreign land and that God’s people are being pulled in various directions of idolatry. He has just been told by God that the length of Israel’s captivity in Babylon would be 70 years, and his heart is torn by the knowledge of a discouraged and wayward people who, to quote Psalm 137:1-4, lamented the loss of their joy and hope, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” These are things Daniel knew, and the grief that was manifested in his prayer was a multi-positional grief. Not only was the pain in his words pleading for mercy for God’s people, but a pain for the silence that rang out where worship was deserved and for the eyes that would grow to believe that the God who is truly great was not, because the sanctuary on which He had placed His holy name was in a state of devastation.

And so Daniel cries out to the Lord, “Shine Your face up on Your sanctuary.” Throughout the bible, this phrase is used repeatedly resulting in favor, peace, blessing, salvation and a bestowing of grace. For the Lord to receive the worship He alone is worthy of, Daniel knew that He must have mercy and act, and that the worth of His people was far too small a rock to stand on to appeal for restoration. Instead, his appeal was for the worth and fame of the majestic name of the one true and living God. In essence, he cried out to the Lord that even the disobedience and wickedness of God’s people would not be able to take from Him the worship, praise and glory due His name in this world; in his prayer he basically says, “We deserve this desolation, but Your sanctuary does not.”

Lord, make my heart zealous for You. May I not choose sin or allow circumstances to rob You of the worship You deserve. May my life reflect the reality of Your worth.