Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 193

Prayers of the Old Testament
The Prayer of David continued...

There was no doubt in David’s heart concerning the greatness of the God he served. Even in his darkest hour, standing against his most imposing foe, David knew God was with him, and if God was with him, then any foe, no matter how imposing was as good as felled already.

David knew whom he was communing with. David possessed the requisite reverence any man understanding who it is they are speaking to must possess.

Rather than be in awe of His greatness, we continually attempt to bring God down to our level, remaking Him in an image more to our liking, than allowing ourselves to be remolded into an image more akin to Him.

Due to this, we are no longer aware of whom it is we are speaking to when we pray, at least not as far as His majesty and greatness are concerned.

The proof is in the lack of reverence which seems to permeate nearly every congregation or household of faith.

We have redefined God, and we have shrunk His authority, His majesty, and His omnipotence, to the point of utter irreverence for His holy name. Rather than come before Him in a spirit of worship and reverence, many today approach God as know-it-all bratty children who just want to be validated in their choices, their lifestyle, and their predilections.

‘God is whatever you want Him to be, but in general, he’s like your buddy, you know, your pal, someone you can joke around with and stuff.’

Since when is God our buddy and our pal? When was it He stripped Himself of His sovereignty, majesty, righteousness, holiness, omnipotence and divinity and became someone we can joke around with?

We read David’s words, and we realize He revered God. David had reverence for whom God was and acknowledged his own impotence and inferiority in light of whom God was.

When reverence is lacking, so is everything else necessary to ensure a true relationship with God. From humility, to subservience, to obedience, to faith itself, all these things are absent when reverence is absent in the heart of an individual.

Due to lack of reverence, we also have the disastrous tendency to reinterpret and redefine God by our own standards. When we do this, our go to response whenever something we don’t understand or like occurs, is ‘my god wouldn’t do that.’

But would the God of the Bible?

If we read the Book and see God doing a certain thing or taking a certain action yet we do not believe our god would do the selfsame thing, we are not worshipping the God of the Bible, but a god of our own making.

David didn’t try to change God, he submitted to God’s authority and sovereignty, receiving all things from His hand.

Granted, it’s easy to receive from the hand of God when what He is promising you is the continuity of your kingdom and perpetual protection, but there were times when God tested David in ways that might seem harsh or unloving to us, yet David still humbled himself in the sight of the Lord.

Is reverence or respect an option rather than a necessity for the children of God? Can we choose irreverence absent consequence – as some insist – if we so desire?

Revelation 4:9-11, “Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.’”

If in heaven there is reverence and worship of God to the point that the twenty-four elders fall down before Him, and cast their crowns before the throne, and if with our own lips we pray, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,’ then ought we not to show the same reverence as those in heaven do?

He is Lord! He is God! He is Creator! He is worthy of our reverence, and worship.

Though David was king and people feared him, since with the wave of a hand he could have the life of any man in his kingdom, he humbled himself in the sight of the Lord, recognizing His authority, and His lordship over his life.

To some this topic may seem like a small issue, or a non-issue, but I assure you lack of reverence leads to lack of obedience, which leads to lack of accountability, which is the first step in the downward spiral of rebellion.

Fools will beat their chest and say ‘I am,’ but wise men bow their knee and say, ‘You are!’

‘Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?’ These were the first words of David’s prayer, and no, he had not been stricken with sudden Alzheimer’s. David knew who he was as a person, he knew who he was as far as his position was concerned, but he still could not fathom what God saw in him that he had been elevated to such a state.

David humbled himself in the sight of the Lord, and revered God’s ability to take a lump of clay and mold greatness out of it.

If you have accomplished anything in this life, if you are someone of renown, keep in mind it was God who brought you this far. It was the hand of God which led you and molded you and carried you to this place. Give God the thanks and glory rightly His, as David did so long ago.

A lesser man would have attempted to appropriate the glory for himself. It was after all David who pitched the stone at Goliath’s head, it was David who led his army to victory, but David knew that though his hand pitched the stone, God guided it. Though David led his armies, God gave the victory.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.