Re:Verse passage – Daniel 9:1-23 (day four)
Daniel turned to the words of Jeremiah to find clarity about what was happening around him. He quickly realized that the nation of Israel was in such dire straits because God did exactly what he said he would. Israel sinned, and God delivered the consequences.
You can tell, though, that Daniel kept reading. It would be easy to get to the part in Jeremiah’s prophecy that explains the consequences for Israel’s sin, and throw the book aside in terror, panicking about the fate that awaited them. But Daniel read on, and found that Jeremiah also told of God’s compassion; that even after Israel had strayed so far away and suffered for it, God would once again look on them with compassion.
So Daniel, on his knees in prayer, appealed to God’s compassion. He was able to do this because he read about this characteristic of God in Scripture, he had learned of God’s compassion for the Israelites throughout their history, and he had witnessed it in his own life. He knew that the compassion of God was their only hope, and that this hope was sure.
And how much more can we be assured of this? We, who live on the other side of the resurrection and know that Compassion walked this earth? When you feel like all hope is lost, keep reading. Compassion is on the very next page.