God is faithful. Israel is not. God faithfully provided the law and reminded Israel of it through His prophets, but Israel stubbornly refused to obey His voice.

In order to obey His voice, what needs to be true?

You need to hear His voice and understand what He wants you to do.

Then you need to make your choice. It’s best to make your choice today that you will always obey. It should be a non-choice whether to obey or not what you know God is asking you to do.

Daniel says that God has been faithful in bringing calamity upon them and confesses for Israel, “Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.”

Israel hadn’t turned, but Daniel is pleading with God to turn, asking God to turn away His wrath. He asks that God does it according to His righteous acts. God is righteous. Israel is not. We can’t rely on our righteousness, but we can rely on God’s.

Not only is His righteous good and right and always good and right, His mercy directs it. His great and enduring love extends His righteousness to us.

We need the righteousness of Christ. It is our salvation, not only on Judgement Day, but every day. Our righteousness is our defense, and our defensive wall would have holes in it if it weren’t for the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Follow Daniel’s example and confess the sins of your nation/family/organization and ask God’s mercy. He delights to show mercy.