“Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.”
1 Chronicles 17:16-17
This passage, David's prayer is not just about him. David brings in the whole of God’s people and what had been done for them too (vv. 21, 22). In a similar way, God’s saving work in us as individuals is inextricably linked with what he is doing in and through his church all over the world. That’s huge!
Do you have any inkling about how God might be using you to further his purposes? When you think about it, that is a tremendous honor!
Interspersed with David’s words of amazement are hints of worship: ‘There is no one like you’ (v. 20); ‘your name will be great forever’ (v. 24). When we think how well God knows us and when we realize just how much he has done for us—despite who we are—does this lead only to astonishment, or also to worship?
Closing Prayer
Lord God, thank you for my redemption; give me greater vision for the ways in which you purpose to work through me for the sake of your kingdom (edited from Encounter with God).
* In the summer of 1775, just a few months after the “shot heard round the world” signaled the start of the American Revolution, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to decide how their fledgling army would try to defeat the strongest military in the world. So, shortly after selecting George Washington to lead their forces, Congress chose to appeal to a different kind of strength as well.
The result was what we might call the first national day of prayer, a call for all of the Colonies to join together in “a Day of public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer; that they may with united Hearts & Voice, unfeignedly confess their Sins before God, and supplicate the all wise and merciful disposer of events, to avert the Desolation and Calamities of an unnatural war” (from Dennison Column).