Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.” (vv.12-14)
God responded to Daniel’s prayer the very moment he made his request known. Daniel had been in great and serious prayer for three full weeks (Daniel 10:2). However we see here in our text that the angel was delayed because, "the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood him." Since this prince was able to oppose the angelic messenger to Daniel, we know this was more than a man. This prince was some kind of angelic being, and we know he was an evil angelic being because he opposed the word of God coming to Daniel and stood against the angelic messenger.
The word prince has the idea of a ruler or authority. This fits in well with the New Testament idea that angelic ranks are organized and have a hierarchy (Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 6:12, Colossians 1:16, Colossians 2:15). These angelic ranks seem to include both faithful angels and fallen angels. Apparently, this was a demon of high rank that opposed the answer to prayer. On three occasions, Jesus referred to Satan as the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11).
Since the angel was dispatched immediately and Daniel’s period of prayer and self-denial was 21 days (the three full weeks of Daniel 10:2), we see that the answer to the prayer was delayed by the prince of the kingdom of Persia.
Thus, there may be hindering factors of which a praying Christian knows nothing as he wonders why the answers to his requests are delayed. Nevertheless, he is to keep on praying.
Like Daniel, our prayers are heard and like him we must be both patient and persistent. We must also strive in our prayer life to understand what God wants to accomplish in our present situation.
Humbling ourselves before the creator of the universe is a good start, as God is not some genie we can summon for our three immediate wishes. It may take some time.
True revelation and understanding will only come as we truly seek His will and not our own.
The Truth: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.....” (Matthew 6:10)
