Prayer Challenges
Current Challenge from Doug Knox.
September
Man Builders 51
2 Samuel 6:18-28
David—Forged Masterpiece, Part 32
PRAYER OF THE HONORED SERVANT
The Moral Force of the King
The dynasty that begins with David hearkens back to the LORD’s warning in Deuteronomy, on the east side of the Jordan River prior to their occupation of the land. There, Moses told his people,
“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.”
--Deuteronomy 12:8-9
Here Moses speaks to the second generation of free Israelites, reminding them that their fathers all died in the wilderness. The people heed his words, and for two generations, Israel flourished (Joshua 24:31). Following Joshua’s Conquest, the book of Judges records Israel’s cyclical history of rebellion and inadequate repentance. The book closes with the lament, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own mind” (Judges 17:5; 21:25). In light of these tragic assessments, God’s call for the king to keep a copy of the Torah in his presence, “that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law...so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel” (Deuteronomy 17:19, 20), becomes crucial for understanding Israel’s kingdom years. The king’s duty is to stand in the gap and guide his people in righteousness. The LORD’s passion for his people was their moral purity, and he knew that it was anchored in the king’s integrity. As the ranking official on the nation would do, the people would imitate. Only a few kings would understand this as well as David.
Stunned Gratitude
When God grants him the dynasty, David’s sense of gratitude is stunning:
Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord GOD. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord GOD! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord GOD. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
--2 Samuel 7:18-22
David’s opening observation marks him as a truly humble man. “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” His words reflect the early sentiments of every sincere man who has found himself summoned from the press of ordinary men to embark on a task for God. The call is terrifying, and our first reaction is shocking. “You want me?” But if the call is real and the conscience is pliable, doubt leads to acceptance, and our thoughts yield in submission. “How could I be so honored?” This is what we see in David. As Moses declared to the second generation of free Israel,
“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples….”
--Deuteronomy 7:6-7
David recalls Moses’s words as he contemplates his role as the prince over Israel:
“And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God.
“And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.”
--2 Samuel 7:23-27
Whenever we see men simultaneously exhibit courage and humility through their acceptance of the duty to which they are called, it is a solemn occasion. We see it with David. He recognizes God’s greatness when he looks at Israel, “the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people.” He openly accepts his task. “And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant.” He recognizes that he operates always under the LORD’s authority, “Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.” As brief as the body of the prayer is, it is profound in its understanding of the essence of God’s call. David’s closing words are just as notable. He prays for the very thing that God has given him:
“And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
--2 Samuel 7:28-29
The structure of the closing is interesting in its balance between thankfulness and prayer:
--O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true,
and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
--Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant,
so that it may continue forever before you.
--For you, O Lord GOD, have spoken, and
with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
The flanking clauses in the statement acknowledge what God has spoken: In the first couplet, we read about “...your words...” that “...you have promised….” The third couplet contains a similar acknowledgment of the promise: “...you...have spoken…,” and “...your servant shall be blessed.” God has spoken, and he will act according to his word. Still, this is not a statement of passive confidence. Between these two pairs of acknowledgments lies David’s prayer to “bless the house of your servant, / so that it may continue…” David recognizes the truth that Paul states his letter to the Philippian church. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Living in the promise is never passive. It is a continual fellowship of grateful blessing and active faith.
Doug Knox