His thoughts said, The way is rough.
His Father said, But every step bringeth thee nearer to thy Home.
His thoughts said, The fight is fierce.
His Father said, He who is near to his Captain is sure to be a target for archers.
His thoughts said, The night is long.
His Father said, But joy cometh in the morning.
(Amy Carmichael, His Thoughts Said… His Father Said…)
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John Eldredge points to the story in Daniel 10, where Daniel has a troubling vision and prays for understanding, but no answer comes for three weeks.
Something has happened to Daniel that he does not understand. I think we can all relate to that. We don’t understand about 90% of what happens to us either. Daniel is troubled. He sets out to get an answer. But three weeks of prayer and fasting produce no results. What is he to conclude? If Daniel were like most people, by this point he’d probably be headed toward one of two conclusions: I’m blowing it, or God is holding out on me. He might try confessing every sin and petty offense in hopes of opening up the lines of communication with God. Or he might withdraw into a sort of disappointed resignation, drop the fast, and turn on the television. In an effort to hang on to his faith, he might embrace the difficulty as part of “God’s will for his life.” He might read a book on “the silence of God.” That’s the way the people I know handle this sort of thing.
And they would be dead wrong.
On the twenty-first day of the fast an angel shows up, out of breath. In a sort of apology, the angel explains to Daniel that God had actually dispatched him in answer to Daniel’s prayers the very first day he prayed — three weeks ago. (There goes the whole unanswered prayer thesis, right out the window.) Three weeks ago? What is Daniel to do with that? “The very first day? But… I’ve… I mean, thank you very much, and I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but… where have you been?” You haven’t blown it, Daniel, and God isn’t holding out on you. The angel goes on to explain that he was locked in hand-to-hand combat with a mighty fallen angel, a demonic power of dreadful strength, who kept him out of the Persian kingdom for three weeks, and he finally had to get Michael (the great archangel, the captain of the Lord’s hosts) to come and help him break through enemy lines. “Now I am here, in answer to your prayer. Sorry it’s taken so long.”
I have no idea how to conduct my prayer life in a way that takes these things into account.
I’m not talking about the “warfare phrases” I sometimes hear people use in prayer. I’m talking about laboring in prayer. Daniel’s response here implies strenuous labor. It reminds me of Elijah’s prayer for rain.
Shoot, I don’t even know how Daniel prays and fasts for three weeks! Three weeks? I’ve never even fasted for three days. And to pray for that long… What does Daniel say? How do you pray for a long period of time? I know there’s talking and listening, but…
There is a deeper life I have never attained — never even known truly how to access.
























