The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Samuel 2:1a,
"In the course of time, David inquired of the Lord. 'Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?' he asked."
King Saul was dead by this time and David had been previously anointed by Samuel (who was now dead as well) to succeed him as king. Due to Saul's efforts to kill him, David had fled to Israel's enemy, the Philistines. In order to reestablish his presence among the Israelites, David inquired of the Lord for his next step in taking the mantle of Israel's next king.
David was a man of faith. That faith did not make him a perfect person, as we find in the accounts about David. However, he was a man of God, and unlike Saul, David sought the Lord in the decisions and actions he took. David was a man of prayer, as our verse shows. Saul's downfall, as one who was not of faith, was to look to make his decisions and take his actions based on the circumstances he found himself in, as opposed to seeking God's guidance. I suspect Saul prayed little.
This morning, my thoughts are drawn to determining which things we should take to God in prayer. Here in this verse we see David asking God where he should go to next. It wasn't a simple question of where a nice place might be to live, but to seek God on next steps in establishing his reign as Israel's next king.
Paul tells us, in Ephesians 6:18, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Prayer is important. All believers should be cultivating a prayer life, bringing before the Lord the many things that are on our hearts - certainly those things the Holy Spirit is prompting us in.
"In the course of time, David inquired of the Lord. 'Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?' he asked."
King Saul was dead by this time and David had been previously anointed by Samuel (who was now dead as well) to succeed him as king. Due to Saul's efforts to kill him, David had fled to Israel's enemy, the Philistines. In order to reestablish his presence among the Israelites, David inquired of the Lord for his next step in taking the mantle of Israel's next king.
David was a man of faith. That faith did not make him a perfect person, as we find in the accounts about David. However, he was a man of God, and unlike Saul, David sought the Lord in the decisions and actions he took. David was a man of prayer, as our verse shows. Saul's downfall, as one who was not of faith, was to look to make his decisions and take his actions based on the circumstances he found himself in, as opposed to seeking God's guidance. I suspect Saul prayed little.
This morning, my thoughts are drawn to determining which things we should take to God in prayer. Here in this verse we see David asking God where he should go to next. It wasn't a simple question of where a nice place might be to live, but to seek God on next steps in establishing his reign as Israel's next king.
Paul tells us, in Ephesians 6:18, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people." Prayer is important. All believers should be cultivating a prayer life, bringing before the Lord the many things that are on our hearts - certainly those things the Holy Spirit is prompting us in.
However, I note that Paul doesn't tell us to pray before we do anything and everything. I believe a consideration must be made here. I don't ask God if I should take my very next breath, so a determination of what it is that I should pray to God about is necessary - what are those things I need to be in prayer about? There are things, I believe, that the Lord simply has no preference on, things he will not provide us direction on. All things being equal, does God care whether I sit in the 9th, or 10th pew on Sunday morning? Does he expect me to seek him on which color of sheets I use on my bed? I don't think he cares about that, and if he did answer our question on it, it might be, "Why pester me on something like this?" God has given each of us our own minds, wills and emotions and he expects us to use them. That's why he endowed us with them.
On the other hand, if I have a child, lets say, that appears to be turning his back on the Lord, that is clearly something Paul would have me pray about, and something I'm certain God would like to hear from me about. David's next move to establish his kingship in the nation of Israel was important for him to pray about. Prayer is vital and there are many, many things we need to be on our knees before God about. But a prudent consideration of which kinds of things I should be in prayer about is something I need to be learning from the Scriptures, and itself a matter of bringing before God in prayer - that we might get it right.
Sometimes we need to get passed the issue of whether we are regularly praying or not (faithful believers pray!) and move on to what it is we are praying about. It does little good to be bringing things before God of little to no consequence, and particularly if doing so obscures our recognition of those things we really need to be praying about.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment