A Prayer of Confession on Election Day

A Prayer of Confession on Election Day*

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. We have not listened to those who preached your word faithfully to our President, congressmen and all of us here in the United States. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the people of America, to the inhabitants of our cities and to all our people both here and abroad. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our President, our senators and representatives and to all of us because we have sinned against you.

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us in his Word. All the United States has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in your Law are against us because we have sinned against him. In spite of the fact that we are vulnerable to the judgment of God, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready calamity which we rightly deserve, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon us. O My God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our plight. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord pay attention and act. Do not delay, for your own sake.

*In the midst of a national crisis, the Old Testament prophet, Daniel, spoke a prayer of confession on behalf of his people. Daniel was not guilty of the sins which he confessed, yet he confessed them on behalf of the people of his nation. It provides a model for us as we consider how we could pray for our nation. I have taken Daniel’s prayer as found in the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible and paraphrased it for us as modern Americans to show how we can take a biblical prayer and use it as a model for our own praying. (Daniel’s prayer is found in Daniel 9:4-19)