INTRODUCTION
How do we pray? Could we pray better? If I asked you, who in the Bible is an expert in prayer, who would you say? You might say David. The psalms are prayers and at least 75 of the 150 psalms in the Book of Psalms were written by David.
We’re in a series on David, the shepherd who became king of Israel.
In my first talk I explained why David is such an important person in the Bible. One reason David is so important is that he’s a model, or type, for Jesus. In David we see something of Jesus.
My second talk was about the early part of David’s life. Samuel anointed David future king of Israel. Things started amazingly for David. For example, he defeated Goliath! But very quickly, things went downhill. Saul grew jealous of David. He saw him as a threat. David was forced to flee. He became a fugitive, living in a cave. It wasn’t a pleasant situation. But when every other means of support was stripped away, David turned to God. He wrote:
I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living” {Psalm 142:5]
Perhaps this time of trial helped David learn that God is our only true rock and refuge. It’s a lesson which is difficult to learn when we have other means of support around us.
Today, I’m doing the third talk in the series. I’ve called it, 'David: man of prayer'. I’m going to look at how David prayed. Prayer was clearly a huge part of David’s life. We can’t talk about David without talking about his prayers. But talking about David’s life of prayer in general would be far too big a subject! So, I’m going to zoom in on one kind of prayer David prayed: prayers when he was facing trouble. And specifically, how he remembered God when he was facing trouble. This is probably the most common kind of David’s prayers in the psalms. David was often getting bumped by the world around him!
Before we start to look at this, I’d like to go back to a famous story from Jesus’ life. Jesus’ disciples were rowing across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus wasn’t with them, but he comes later, walking on the water. Peter wants to have a go at walking on the water. He says to Jesus:
Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ Jesus said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me’ [Matthew 14:18-20].
Peter was in trouble. He’d taken his eyes off Jesus and looked at the waves. Then he began to sink. He should have kept his eyes on Jesus. But he cried out ‘Lord, save me’, and Jesus did.
David also faced lots of metaphorical storms in his life. His psalms are full of references to persecution, trouble, danger, stress and accusations. He talks about his enemies’ words being like arrows, about a deep mire, about a flood sweeping over him.
David did what Peter did. He called out to God to save him. The first verse of Psalm 69 is,
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
In other places David prays, ‘Keep me’ (Psalm 17:8), ‘Rescue me’ (Psalm 31:2) or ‘Hide me’ (Psalm 64:2).
But David did more than that. He did what Peter, when he was out on the lake, didn’t do. He kept his eyes on God. He remembered WHO GOD IS. Specifically, David remembered WHO GOD IS, WHAT GOD HAD DONE and WHAT GOD WOULD DO.
It’s very helpful to us. We know that in a storm we have to keep our eyes on Jesus. But how exactly do we do it? David shows us.
WHO GOD IS
When it comes to WHO GOD IS, the quality of God which is absolutely at the forefront of David’s thinking is GOD’S LOVE. Let me put this into context. There are 40 or 50 verses in the Psalms which say that God is great. But there are well over 100 verses in the Psalms which talk about God’s ‘steadfast love’! Some versions use the phrase ‘unfailing love’ or a similar phrase instead of ‘steadfast love’. David wrote about half of the Psalms, and he certainly talks about God’s steadfast love. God’s steadfast love is what motivates God to save David. For example, David prays, ‘Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; SAVE ME FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR STEADFAST LOVE’ [Psalm 6:4]. Or in another place, ‘Make your face shine on your servant; SAVE ME IN YOUR STEADFAST LOVE!’ [Psalm 31:16].
That was a key fact about WHO GOD IS which David was determined to remember. David knew God loved him. That means that God wanted to help him.
What else does David remember about God when he’s in a storm? I can’t do more than mention a few things. Let’s look at Psalm 3:1-3: David says:
O LORD, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
many are saying of my soul,
there is no salvation for him in God. Selah.
BUT YOU, O LORD, ARE A SHIELD ABOUT ME,
MY GLORY, AND THE LIFTER OF MY HEAD [Psalm 3:1-3].
David sees his foes. So many of them! But then, he turns his attention to God. He remembers WHO GOD IS. GOD IS DAVID’S SHIELD, HIS GLORY AND THE LIFTER OF HIS HEAD. What does that mean for David? If God is those things, does he need to worry about his enemies? No, he doesn’t! Will he fall to them? No, he won’t!
Here’s another small example. It’s Psalm 142:3.
When my spirit faints within me,
YOU KNOW MY WAY!
David is spiritually fainting. But he reminds himself that GOD KNOWS HIS WAY! If God knows his way, then God can guide him out of the difficulty he’s facing.
WHAT GOD HAS DONE
Let’s turn now from WHO GOD IS to WHAT GOD HAS DONE. This is Psalm 40:1-2. David says:
I waited patiently for the LORD …
What did God do?
…HE INCLINED TO ME AND HEARD MY CRY.
HE DREW ME UP FROM THE PIT OF DESTRUCTION,
OUT OF THE MIRY BOG,
AND SET MY FEET UPON A ROCK,
MAKING MY STEPS SECURE.
David isn’t talking TO God at this point. Perhaps David is talking to other people or to himself. He’s remembering something about what God did for him. God drew him out of the pit of destruction. He set his feet on a rock. He made his steps secure.
I don’t know if David was facing a difficulty at that moment. But he remembers how God looked after him in the past. Remembering that helps him to trust that God will look after him in the present.
WHAT GOD WILL DO
Let’s go on to what GOD WILL DO. Actually, the example I’ve chosen is a ‘WILL NOT DO’. This is Psalm 16:8-10.
David says:
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
David has his eyes set on his Lord. He continues:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
FOR YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO SHEOL,
OR LET YOUR HOLY ONE SEE CORRUPTION.
David isn’t fussed about what’s going to happen. He is absolutely confident about one VERY important thing. God WILL NOT abandon his soul to Sheol. His ultimate destiny is secure.
David remembered WHO GOD IS. He remembered WHAT GOD HAS DONE. And he remembered WHAT GOD WILL OR WILL NOT DO.
A little earlier, I talked about Peter, walking on water and beginning to sink. He looked at the waves when he should have kept his eyes on Jesus.
For David, remembering these things about God was a way to keep his eyes on God. I don’t want to make comparisons between David and Peter. Both were great men of God, and both made mistakes. But in this area, David is a great example to us.
APPLYING THIS TO OURSELVES
The world of David’s time brought him persecution, trouble, danger, stress and accusations. He sometimes felt as though he was sinking into a deep mire, or a flood was sweeping over him.
The world today can be much the same for us. It can be a scary place. We, God’s people, face many kinds of storms and enemies. But God can help in all of them.
Four years ago, the world faced the storm of the Covid epidemic.
Today, more countries are at war than at any time since the Second World War.
I’ve got to know a young Pakistani pastor. Some months ago, a member of the church he leads was killed. More recently, the church was attacked. Last week he was arrested for preaching using a PA system.
Some people may be waiting for an operation and feel afraid.
Some people may be feeling overwhelmed at the amount of work they have to do.
Some people may have made mistakes in the past and feel depressed.
Some people may be struggling with an addiction or with sexual temptation.
In ALL of these situations it’s appropriate to pray!
We should certainly do what Peter and David did and cry out to Jesus, ‘Save me!’ ‘Keep me’!’ ‘Rescue me!’ ‘Hide me!’
But let’s not JUST do that. Let’s remember Peter, walking on the water, looking at the waves and starting to sink. We don’t want to do that! Instead, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. A great way to do that is to remind ourselves of the things we know about him. His steadfast love for us. His power. His assurances about the future.
David didn’t always get it right. He made mistakes. I suspect that he made mistakes when he didn’t pray. But when he prayer and he kept his eyes on God, he overcame his enemies; he endured the storm.
Let us do that too. When we do, we won’t be overcome by the world. On the contrary, we will overcome the world! [1 John 5:4-5].
TALK GIVEN AT ROSEBERY PARK BAPTIST CHURCH, BOURNEMOUTH, UK, 2ND SEPTEMBER 2024, 10.30 A.M. SERVICE.
