Daniel 9:3-5, ESV Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “ O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments , we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Just like Esther, Daniel rose up by going low—by

Daniel 9:3, NKJV Then I set my face  toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. In biblical narrative, to set one’s face signifies an internal posture of determination and resolve. 2 Chronicles 20:3, ESV Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face  to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Luke 9:51, ESV When the days drew near for him [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face  to go to Jerusalem. No

Daniel 9:1-2, ESV In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived  in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Perception is everything. We can live our entire lives without ever perceiving the spiritual significance—and