A Prayer Of Praise Series

The point of interest in this passage is not the fact that Daniel and

his friends prayed. This is neither unusual nor surprising under the

circumstances. Their lives were at stake unless they had a direct

revelation from God. One would be shocked if they did anything else

but pray. One does not need to be a unique person of prayer to cry

out to God when the danger is great. Even unbelievers pray when

they face grave danger. The text, therefore, does not even give us the

prayer he offered for help. It gives us the response he made in prayer

after God granted the help by revealing to him the dream and its

meaning.

When he prayed for help his prayer was a solemn matter of

petition, and his heart would be heavy. He would be on his knees, or

flat on his face earnestly pleading for God's mercy. But in this

response we see a totally different aspect of prayer. It is a matter of

praise, and his heart would be light, and his body so filled with

grateful joy that it is likely he would be standing or walking with eyes

uplifted to heaven. The posture of prayer and the nature of prayer

varies with the circumstances. There is no best way, for it is such a

personal matter of one's own relationship to God that the best is

relative to the individual. Two Christians going to prayer may be

very different, and one may desire to fall on his knees before God

while the other wishes to stand. Daniel goes through both of these in

one night, and it is his shout of praise that is recorded.

Richard Llewellyn in How Green Was My Valley has this

conversation. Mr. Gruffydd, a minister, tells a boy to keep his spirit

clean, and the boy responds, "And how shall it be kept clean, Mr.

Gruffydd?" He said, "By prayer my son, not mumbling, or shouting,

or wallowing like a hog in religious sentiments. Prayer is only

another name for good, clear direct thinking. When you pray, think

well what you are saying, and make your thoughts into things that are

solid. In that manner, your prayer will have strength, and that

strength shall become a part of you, mind, body and spirit. I think

the author has gone to far here in ruling out sentiment and the role of

emotion, but what he does say is good. It fits the character of the

prayers of the Bible.

Some of our best thinking and theology, and practical guidance

for life comes from the prayers of the Bible. Daniel's prayer of praise

is a prayer of solid things and clear thinking. We want to examine if

from the point of view of what it teaches us about God. The first

thing this prayer of praise teaches us is that-

I. GOD IS WORTHY OF PRAISE.

Someone has said, "There is something sweeter than receiving

praise, the feeling of having deserved it." God alone is always

deserving of praise, and that is why Jesus begins the Lord's Prayer

with the adoration, "Hallowed be thy name." Daniel also begins with

adoration: "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever."

Adoration of God is the highest attitude one can have in His presence.

Someone has written, "In adoration the soul comes to God sensible of

His love, majesty, holiness, and infinite greatness; feeling, and seeking

more fully to feel the awe, reverence, and holy affection due to His

great name; it transcends admiration and wonder; it is a blending of

love with the fervent desire that all the world should know and

magnify the glory of the Lord."

Our praise and adoration cannot exalt God objectively for He is

already the highest and ultimate in majesty, but it does exalt Him

subjectively by placing God in His rightful place in our lives and

thinking, and that is right at the top if first place. And attitude of

adoration and praise is essential if we are to have an adequate

concept of, and relationship to God. God alone is worthy of the very

highest of our emotional responses, and if He does not receive them

then we are lacking an allegiance to Him. Or if someone else or

something else receives them we are idolaters.

The occupation of heaven is praise someone said, and this is

because those who are there are fully aware of the majesty of their

Maker. On earth we often slip into an unawareness of the greatness

of the God who loves and saves us. Because of this it is important that

praise be a part of our prayer life, for praise tends to keep us

conscious of our smallness and God's greatness. In petition and

intercession we are usually focusing on self and others and human