The Restoration of God's People Part 2

We want to, this morning, look at the prayer itself and see it as a pattern for prayer. I think what we have here is, really, God inspired this... I mean included this prayer in this book because He wanted this to be a pattern for the people who receive this prophecy.

God will restore you (Israel) but the restoration is going to be something less than what it was before. Or something different. And the message of the Book is that you're going to continue to be as a nation, Israel, you're going to continue to be under the domination of foreign kingdoms. Trading Babylon for the Medes and Persians, and then the Greeks and then, finally, the Romans.

... And there will be times like that and so the Lord gave this prophecy in 530 BC to the nation of Israel to help them weather the storms, and to remain strong in the faith, knowing that God had ordained these circumstances and that they should cling to Him even though they're in times of desolation and He will restore them, maybe not in the way they would have hoped nationally, but in a way that is even better, spiritually.

... And so this is really is a passage, this particular passage, the ninth chapter, is really about the pathway to restoration.

... You don't just sit there and suffer in the misery and agony. What do you do?