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The Scriptorium

The Discipline of Mourning

There is a time for mourning. But when?

Introduction
Prior to chapter 10, Daniel received thrilling, albeit frightening, visions of the coming of God’s Kingdom and Messiah. These were visions of promise, hope, triumph, and joy; but they also included many terrible things yet to come before that promised victory would be realized. Indeed, we must enter the Kingdom of God through many trials, and while we rejoice in our trials and temptations, we must also be prepared to mourn (cf. Jms. 1.2-4; 2 Cor. 12.20, 21).

Read Acts 14.21, 22.

Read Daniel 10.1-3.

Think it Through
1.  Daniel is about to report a message that led him into a period of mourning. Why? Should what God reveals in His Word lead us at times into weeping and mourning? Explain. We all know what it’s like when we’re expecting something really good. We get excited, and that excitement can make us impatient. “Good things,” we know, “come to those who wait.” The Good News of the Kingdom is ours by grace through faith, but entering the Kingdom is just the beginning. There is always more of this Good News – this “great salvation” (Heb. 2.3) – than what we’ve ever known before. And for this, we must wait. But how do we do that? 

2.  Daniel was expecting something really good. All those faithful Israelites who were returning to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem would have had Daniel’s words, and thus would have been expecting something good as well. But Daniel was careful to explain that much tumult and turmoil must transpire en route to the promised Kingdom and covenant of the Messiah. The people would need to know how to wait and persevere. How would you describe Daniel’s response to this revelation in verses 2 and 3? Why did he do this? What was he hoping to accomplish by this? Should Christians include anything like this discipline of mourning in their own spiritual practices? Explain.

Meditate
“He says that the mourning had been protracted ‘for three weeks,’ because he had fasted for all that space of time. He calls fasting ‘mourning’ in the same sense used by our Lord, when he defended himself and his disciples from the detractions of the Pharisees. When the disciples were reproached by the Pharisees because they were not fasting, the Lord answered, ‘The wedding guests cannot mourn,’ that is, fast, ‘as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they’?”Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD)

I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet…Revelation 1.9, 10

All who are brethren with Daniel and John understand, Lord, that we live in Your Kingdom amid many temptations and trials, and we need Your patience to wait and persevere in… 

Pray Psalm 102.1-14.
Here is a psalm of mourning because of desolation. It speaks of the withered, dry, desolate condition of God’s people, but it ends in hope and resolution. As you pray this, reflect on the state of churches in our country, and pour your heart out in grief to the Lord.

Psalm 102.1-14 (Leominster: Not What My Hands Have Done)
Lord, hear my prayer and cry; hide not Your face from me!
In my distress and tears I sigh – Lord, hear my earnest plea!
My days like smoke blow past; my bones are scorched with sin.
My heart, like wilted, withered grass bends low to earth again.

With loudest groans and cries, and leanness in my soul,
No shelt’ring place arrests my eyes, no rest to make me whole.
My enemies grow strong; I weep with bitter tears;
My days are like a shadow, long; God’s face is no more near.

But You, O Lord, abide forever in Your place.
Arise and stand on Zion’s side and lavish us with grace!
Revive Your Church, O Lord! Let all her dust and stones
Be strengthened by Your mighty Word, and compact be as one.

T. M Moore

For a better understanding of the book of Daniel, and all the books of the Bible, order a copy of the workbook, God’s Covenant, from our online store. The studies in this workbook will show you how the parts of the Bible connect with one another to tell the story of God’s redemption and glory (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from 
The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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