2 Samuel 7:18-22

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And now, Sovereign Lord, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign Lord? 20 “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign Lord. 21 Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant. 22 “How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you.

There’s something about our culture that makes it very hard for us to be still for any length of time. We have lost the art of solitude and there is very little time for contemplation, we have become too busy. I’m sure King David was a busy man, he had a whole kingdom to run, and yet he took time to regularly sit and be still in God’s presence. When you read the scores of Psalms that David wrote, Psalms of worship and prayer, you gain a glimpse into his relationship with God. Out of these still moments come Psalms that are rich and weighty, flavored with a touch of eternal reality.

In 2 Samuel 7 David receives the most amazing revelation of God’s Word through the prophet Nathan. David had wanted to build a temple, a house for God, but instead God said, “No, David, I’m going to build YOU a house”. When David hears from Nathan that God wanted to establish his throne forever his immediate reaction is to go and sit before the Lord. It’s not about where and when we come and sit before the Lord, we can kneel at church, in our homes, during times of difficulty and troubled. David sat before the Lord under the stars while shepherding sheep, in rocks and caves while fleeing for his life, and in the courts of the Tabernacle. The times and places changed but not the One whom he came before. God never changes, His presence remains the same, He’s waiting for us to just sit before Him.

It’s not where and when we come to the Lord but how, David sat before the Lord with:

• A HUMBLE HEART

The very first words David utters as he sits before the Lord (v18)  “WHO AM I” Many people, hearing of God’s promises of greatness for them, would become proud and loud. David knew who he was and he also knew that God knew who he was (v20) “You know what your servant is really like” Could it be that we are just too proud to sit still before God because we have an over inflated view of our own importance? It’s not enough just to know yourself and to know that God knows who you are, you have to know who He is. David was the king yet he knew who his king was. Have we become arrogant in our bloated view of ourselves, have we forgotten who we are sitting before?

• WORSHIPFUL HEART

One of the things I notice about David’s prayer is that his prayer is all about God; God is the center, the target of his prayer. For David it was God and His GLORY that mattered, God was not a means to an end, rather God is the glorious end of everything. How many times do we unwittingly reduce God to be merely our means to an end? This has been man’s tendency right through history, He is the One we turn to in trouble and His sovereignty becomes the convenient excuse for every shortcoming.

David has just received God’s gracious word of promise, that God is going to lavish His blessing on David making David’s name glorious. Where is David, what is he doing? Sitting humbly in God’s presence GIVING ALL THE GLORY BACK, giving the glory to the One who is the only rightful recipient of it. Where are the worshippers, those who GIVE ALL THE GLORY BACK? Those who will pour themselves out in adoration of God? Where are you, what are you doing?

• SUBMISSIVE HEART

Whatever GOD wills to do, David submits to it. (v25) “And now, O Lord God, I am your servant” here is the moment of laying down his own plans. David had a great vision of building a glorious temple for the Lord, what a vision, what a noble endeavor, a king whose heart is devoted to the Lord. Even Nathan had agreed and said (v 3) “Go ahead and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.” Who could argue with such a plan? BUT it wasn’t God’s purpose, it wasn’t His time. The desire is good, but that in itself is not enough because God desires OBEDIENCE not just great ideas.

The subject of much of his short prayer is the sovereignty of God, and he uses the word sovereign 7 times. Why use that word so much and what is the “sovereignty of God”? To call God “sovereign” means that God has the right to do as He wishes; it means that God does in fact know what is best for us. When David hears the Word of the Lord, as SOON as he hears it, there is not argument, no attempt to somehow reason with or persuade God (like we so often do). He simply goes in and sits before the Lord and says in essence, “Not my will be done but YOURS”

Is there anything stopping you from being completely submissive? Could it be that the one thing stopping you from being completely submissive to God is the laying down of your own agenda, your plan, your vision, your dream so you can find His PURPOSE. Maybe the great plans you have seem so right, so noble.  I’m sure they are good, but GOOD plans are not the point, they must be GOD’S plans.

Prayer is about sitting with God and dealing with our pride, repenting of it and developing a HUMBLE heart. It’s about putting Him first, coming to adore Him with a WORSHIPFUL heart and putting ourselves in the right perspective. It’s about lay down your agenda, your plan and coming with a SUBMISSIVE heart to wait on God and let Him show you HIS better purpose. Prayer changes us, remember, He is the one that is unchanging!

1 Samuel 23: 1-4; 7-8; 10-13

One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors. 2 David asked the Lord, “Should I go and attack them?” “Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him. 3 But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!” 4 So David asked the Lord again, and again the Lord replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”  7 Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. “Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled town!” 8 So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men. 10 Then David prayed, “O Lord, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here. 11 Will the leaders of Keilah betray me to him?  And will Saul actually come as I have heard? O Lord, God of Israel, please tell me.” And the Lord said, “He will come.” 12 Again David asked, “Will the leaders of Keilah betray me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord replied, “Yes, they will betray you.” 13 So David and his men—about 600 of them now—left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go to Keilah after all.

Where does prayer fit in your decision making process? David made multiple trips to his prayer closet and got “confirmations” from God before he launched out. There are many people that I know who daringly move forward saying, “I feel good about this” so I am going ahead with this marriage, job, purchase, decision. Who do you turn to for direction, the Father or your feelings? In the previous chapter Saul murdered 85 of the Lord’s priest and he is after David’s blood, David is shattered by the news. Now, the next scene (chapter) opens with the people approaching David: “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.” Now, David did not send them back saying, “I’m upset and in no mood to help people” instead, David went to God in prayer, he made a decision to seek the Father over feelings. A true warrior of God does not react but interacts with God for his people! David does not react emotionally and impulsively but enquires of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord said, “go”.

Now having been demoralized by the things of the past, David’s men responded by questioning this move, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then, if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”  Their reasoning was based on their past experiences not God’s spoken word so they used their own reasoning to determine their direction. Common sense would say “when we are not safe with our own guys, how much more against the enemies”. David could have listened to their advice and allowed it to direct his life but instead he again goes to the Lord in prayer and the Lord says, ‘Arise, go down to Keilah.’ Where do you go for direction, who do you listen to? Do you seeking the Lord first in prayer? Prayer keeps your focus on Him.

What followed was : “David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.”  Here we learn two things:

• Obedience to God’s direction for our lives brings victory

David didn’t just pray, David also obeyed, prayer is not just talking (asking) but it is also listening (hearing). When you hear from God do you obey? Victory for God’s people always starts with prayer.

• As David followed God so his men followed him.

The direction that we take doesn’t just affect our lives. The person that follows lust or liqueur, laziness or lying doesn’t just bring themselves to ruin but destroys their family also. Do you want victory or defeat, who has God called you to lead, what direction do you want them to go?

At this point in the story we are remind of what prayer really is and what it’s not, we are given a clear picture of fake prayer. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” Notice that Saul is claiming to hear from God also, the evil and wicked man who has just slaughtered 85 priests of the Lord said that He heard God. Saul is saying that it is God’s will that he kills David! Many of us will say that we have heard from God simply because what we want lines up, so we try to use God to validate our plans. Prayer is not getting God to listen to you but us listening to Him.

David again prayed to God: “Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down?” The Lord replied: YES. Again there are two thing that we learn:

• God wants to reveal his plan and direction to us.

From the beginning God makes His ways crystal clear, David asks and God reveals.

• God’s direction can be trusted.

How do you think David felt when he heard that the people of Keilah, for whom he had fought against their enemies, would give him up and turn him over to the enemy? This is what you call being stabbed in the back. Get ready for betrayals and hurts when you follow the Lord whole-heartedly. David dusted off the pain of betrayal and rejection, two of the deepest hurts we can experience, and got ready to move. He understood that only God is completely faithful, people will fail us.

The next verses bring tears to my eyes because I can relate with David’s pain, the Bible says: “So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and began roaming the countryside. After faithfully and consistently seeking direction from the Lord David finds himself on the run, homeless, the man of God had no place to rest! So what do we learn from prayer.

• Better to be homeless than directionless
• Better to wander in the desert than wonder about our Fathers will.
• Never be moved by flesh but in faith wait for His will
• Better to pray again and again than make wrong moves
• Don’t let other’s negative opinion derail you from God’s will
• There is victory in obedience
• Don’t bask in victory too long, be alert, the enemy will be planning their next attack
• God’s path may not always be a ‘comfort zone’ but it is always a ‘safety zone.’