David’s response to God’s promise is interesting. After marvelling at God’s choice of such an unworthy vessel, and after praising God, he then prays that God would do what God had just promised to do. It seems like a pointless thing to ask. If God had said that he would do these things, then what is the point of asking him to do them? This is a good opportunity for us to remind ourselves why we need to ask God for things at all. God knows what we need. God even asks us to pray that his will would be done on earth. So why pray? I want to remind you of a point I have made before: we pray because we were put in charge here in the world. Prayer is an expression of our empowerment. That means that God has committed himself to working through us. When something needs to happen here on earth God will not bypass us. That would be to disempower us. And God does not revoke the gifts he gives (Romans 11:29). No, when God wants to do something, he stirs in our hearts by his Spirit to pray for it. He invites us to be part of the decision making. The opportunity to pray is the opportunity to stand in the divine council and concur with God, to see God’s will done through us on the earth. That is an enormous privilege that we are often far too slow to step into.
Pray that God’s will would be done in and through your life.
Read 2 Samuel 7:18-29
