As I sit down to write today, two dogs lay at my feet. The toasted cheese sandwiches have been cleared away, and somewhere upstairs, a competent teenager is practicing Bach on the cello. The wood stove is working hard to stave off the chill of Alaska, and the thin winter sun is fiercely setting just four hours after it first appeared. All in all, the afternoon is quite cozy.

But my thoughts are across the oceans, mourning, waiting. Hostages are about to be released home to Israel. Ukrainians dig in for another winter of war. Armenians flee another genocide. Uyghurs in China face prolonged imprisonment. Afghan girls stare into a future devoid of education. Names and faces call from the brokenness of the world.

I have been sitting here on this wintery afternoon studying Nehemiah, examining his tears for the destruction of his homeland and his prayers expressing both personal and corporate repentance. As I read, his words sounded familiar. Flipping over to the book of Daniel, I read the prophet’s prayers of grief of his peoples’ sin and exile. Read with me:

To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸ To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him ¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Daniel 9:7-10

That is all just for context. Just a few verses later, a phrase jumped out at me, not once, but three separate times in Daniel 9 and 10. I have read this book more than 100 times and have never seen this before! But today in the middle of Nehemiah’s grief, Daniel’s visions, and our world careening toward the apocalypse, here is what I read:

“You are greatly loved.” Daniel 9:23

“O, Daniel, man greatly loved. . .” Daniel 10:10

“O man, greatly loved. . .” Daniel 10:16 (all ESV)

Maybe I hadn’t noticed this address before because other versions translate it differently. The NIV called Daniel “highly esteemed.” The KJV says that he is “greatly beloved,” and the CSB gets even closer to the Hebrew meaning of “desired:” “treasured by God.” How ever this phrase is translated, Daniel is awakened to the fact that he is precious to God.

This is a hard world, and not just across the oceans. In the last few weeks, I have encountered dear friends with stories of brokenness: drug addiction, alcohol abuse, crushing loneliness, murdered parents, kidnapped children, encroaching dementia, debilitating pain, broken marriages, physical hunger, and rank stupidity.

God’s beloved have trembled, as Daniel did, under the weight of our own sin and that of others. We have staggered in the consequences of our exile from the Garden. And yet, we can testify of God’s love breaking through.

It may be easy for you, beloved reader, to think that Daniel was deeply loved by God–look how faithful he was! His prayers articulate the gracious character of God. His words overflow with the recognition of God’s mercy. He seems like a good, faithful man. Maybe you think that’s the kind of person God loves, and that’s not you.

But how about the self-righteous rich young ruler who approached Jesus?

“A man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” Mark 10:17-20

It may be easier to for us to identify his legalism and love of his material comfort. “And Jesus, looking at him, loved him. . .” He walked away. Can you imagine the young man gathering his robes as he turned his back on the Lord? Haven’t you, at times?

Jesus loved him. Jesus loved him.

Can you grasp that? This is the tone of the Savior: “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden.” Come, weary pastor. Come, impatient mom. Come, self-righteous rule-keeper. Come, frightened soldier. Come, lonely single. Come, tired friend. Come, and you will find the One who loves you, the One who took your sins, who IS your home.

Daniel was told three times that his God cherished him. The last time, those words came with a dose of resilience: “Fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” Daniel testified “I was strengthened.”

Wherever you find yourself today, whatever grief smites you low, may you, too, know the strength that comes from being deeply loved by the Most High.