Part 31: Wise Ways To Pray Series

Great Prayers of the Old Testament

Part 31: Wise Ways to Pray

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared September 12, 2025)

BACKGROUND:

*Anyone who has read much of the Bible knows that the LORD included many of His servant's prayers. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible lists 222 different prayers in the Bible: 176 prayers in the Old Testament, and 46 in the New. (1)

*God surely put a lot of prayers in His Word, and there are some outstanding reasons why. First, God is showing us that He wants us to pray. The LORD is also showing us that prayer is important, that prayer is powerful, and that He wants to answer our sincere, unselfish prayers. God also uses these prayers to teach us how to pray. And that's what King David did in Psalm 139. He shows us some of the best ways we can pray. Let's get started by reading Psalm 139:1-24.

*John Phillips explained Psalm by saying that "the writer was a poetic genius and a man who knew and loved God. God is referred to by name six times and by personal pronoun 30 times. The psalmist refers to himself 50 times. It is a song of profound spiritual experience. All such experience is, by its nature, personal and cherished -- the engagement of a soul with God. That is the same kind of experience the LORD wants to have with us -- personal and cherished.

*Verse 17 helps us understand how good the LORD had been to David, and how grateful David was to the LORD. There the King declared, 'How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!'

*By the grace of God, David had united the nation, defeated its foes, put its internal affairs in order, and settled down to be a shepherd-king to Israel. Then it dawned on David that the God of Israel, the only true and living LORD, the God David wrote about in 73 Psalms, the God who provided everything to David, -- still lived on earth in a tent!

*King David wanted to build God a temple worthy of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. He wanted to build this Temple as a permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant that contained the Ten Commandments. And the King presented the project to Nathan the prophet who gave immediate approval. But Nathan had to quickly modify his approval when the LORD issued a divine edict in I Chronicles 28:3. There GOD said, "You will not build a house for My name, for you are a man of battles and have shed blood."

*David's son, Solomon would build that temple, but GOD would see to it that, since David was concerned about GOD’s house, the LORD would be concerned about David’s house. He would establish David’s house as a permanent dynasty until the coming of Christ. (2)

MESSAGE:

*Do you want a better prayer life? -- I am sure that most of us would say, "YES!" King David can help us because 1 Samuel 13:14, and Acts 13:22 tell us that David was a man after God's own heart. No doubt King David had a wonderful prayer life. And here in Psalm 139, the King shows us some of the best ways we can pray.

1. FIRST, BE SURE TO PRAISE THE LORD!

[1] PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS UNIQUE UNDERSTANDING.

*This is what David was basically saying to the LORD in vs. 1-6: "You completely comprehend me." Of course, God is omniscient. He knows everything about everything past, present, and future!

*Just consider the stars. Richard Wimer tells us that if you hold your thumb at arm's length toward the sky, your thumb nail is covering up more than 250,000 galaxies in space! And every one of those galaxies holds 100 to 200 billion stars! (3)

*But Isaiah 40:26 in the New Living Translation says, "Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away." I forget people's names every day, but God knows all of the stars by name!

*God knows everything about everything! But David saw the LORD's focus up close and personal in vs. 1-6. It's one thing to say that God knows everything. But it's a whole new thing when we say, "LORD, You know everything ABOUT ME."

*In vs. 1-2, LORD, You know my travels and my thoughts: "O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off."

*In vs. 3-4, LORD, You know my ways and my words: "You comprehend my path (The word picture here for "comprehend" is like separating wheat from chaff.) and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether." (4)