1 CHRONICLES 17:16-27 – “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant. For your servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. There is none like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as you have spoken, and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you. And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O Lord, who have blessed, and it is blessed forever.””
THEME OF THE DAY: HOW WE LIVE IN THE WORLD. Today’s devotion contains a lengthy portion of scripture. It is David’s prayer after the Lord promises him a legacy through an enduring kingdom for which his son builds a house for Him. The prayer is filled with humility, praise, submission, and two significant acknowledgements.
The first acknowledgement we observe in David’s prayer is its God-centeredness. His prayer is dominated by the majesty, sovereignty, power, grace, love, and all-knowing nature of God. This prayer offers to us a wonderful pattern to teach us God-centered prayer. It would be a good practice for us to evaluate our prayers by this one of David.
The second truth David acknowledges in his prayer is repeated throughout. It is his understanding of the relationship he enjoys with his God. This relationship is based on the Master – servant roles. Go back through David’s prayer and mark in our Bibles or write down how many times he refers himself to the Lord as “your servant.” It is repeated so often, ten times in a short portion of scripture, and is referred to with an attitude of embracing delight. David knew the relational role he had with his God. The question is . . . do we?
We live all of life, all of the Christian life, under the complete control and care of the Lord. We are His bought property and that to be His servants. And there is no greater comfort and joy than to be under His reign. May the Lord help us to pray like David and understand our relational role with God like David.
PRAYER: Father, thank You that You not only save me but call and enable me to serve You.
REFLECTION: We are servants of a great Master who bought us by His precious blood to be His servants.