2 Samuel 7:122-26 – Praying For The Glory of God
The heart behind the prayer is more important than the words. The Puritan, Thomas Manton reminds us: ‘the heart must be the fountain of the words; otherwise it is but a vain babbling. Much speaking is not praying’. What we need above all is to have our hearts right before God. That means having a heart that longs for God to be glorified.
We could summarise vs 25 and 26 as: ‘Do as you promised, so that your name will be great for ever. Then people will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel” It’s so easy for us to talk about the glory of God, and to mention it in our prayers. But how much do we really desire people to say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel’. Or to put it the other way: how much does it grieve us when people live in this world without acknowledging the God who made them? When they speak of him as they speak of the gods of the nations?
True prayer is marked by gratitude and humility. For that to happen we must have a sense of awe at the majesty of God – and a sense of wonder at the grace of God. We need the wonderful blend Christ gives us in the first line of the Lord’s prayer: ‘Our Father – who art in Heaven’. He’s exalted – he’s in heaven – the sun is like a pin-prick compared to his glory. At the same time he’s our Father. ‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God’.
David praises God in v23 that he had redeemed the nation of Israel to be his people – a people he redeemed for himself from Egypt. Redeeming his people from Egypt was God’s greatest act of salvation in the Old Testament. For us, of course, it’s the cross where we were redeemed by his precious blood. But how prominent a role does thanksgiving for our salvation have in our prayers? Do we thank God for lesser blessings – but not the greatest blessing? True prayer is marked by gratitude and humility. Not just in the face of God’s blessings on our lives, but also wonder at his grace in giving us spiritual life in the first place.
Question
- What are some things we could be praying for more in our prayers?
Prayer Points
- Pray that God would be glorified in your town.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.