Promise and Prayer
B. Dale 2 Samuel 7:25-29 And now, O LORD God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever… Do as thou hast said (ver. 25). 1. God has spoken to men. "His greatness is unsearchable" (ver. 22; Psalm 145:3); nevertheless, he has surely spoken to them in his Word (ver. 4; Hebrews 1:1). 2. He has spoken in the way of promise (ver. 28). A large portion of Divine revelation consists of promises, "exceeding great and precious" (2 Peter 1:4), pertaining to the life that now is, and that which is to come. 3. And as God has spoken to men in the way of promise, so they should speak to him in the way of prayer (1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Samuel 8:6; 1 Samuel 14:16, 36). "A breath that fleets beyond this iron world, And touches him who made it." (Tennyson.) I. PROMISE SUPERSEDES NOT THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER; inasmuch as the latter is commonly the expressed or implied condition of its fulfilment. As a bank note must be presented that we may obtain the gold which it represents, so the Divine promise must be sought in prayer that we may receive the good of which it gives assurance. A child does not refrain from asking his father for what he wants because it has been promised, but rather asks him all the more. David prayed for what he had been promised. "I will yet for this be inquired of," etc. (Ezekiel 36:37). "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matthew 7:7; Psalm 50:15; Zechariah 10:1). "The prayer that prevails is a reflected promise." II. PROMISE CONFIRMS THE DUTY OF PRAYER; by indicating the will of God concerning us. To neglect the condition of receiving the blessing, or to refuse to comply with it, is to despise the blessing itself. Why such a condition? 1. To give to God the honour which is his due. 2. To teach a spirit of dependence. 3. To promote personal and direct intercourse with God. 4. To call into exercise the noblest principles of our nature. 5. To incite cooperation towards the attainment of what is promised. 6. To make its bestowment more beneficial to the recipient. Some things may be beneficial in connection with prayer that would not be so without it. III. PROMISE AUTHORIZES THE PRIVILEGE OF PRAYER. What greater privilege can there be than that of "making known our requests unto God"? But who, without his promise, could venture to believe that these requests would be heard; especially when made for the "great things" contained in it? Even now, how doubtful and timid are we in claiming the privilege! The promise gives encouragement and confidence; and should, therefore, be pondered in the heart, as it was by David; who was thereby emboldened (Authorized Version, "found in his heart ") "to pray this prayer" (ver. 27). "Thy words are truth" (ver. 28). "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8; Psalm 119:49; Genesis 32:12). IV. PROMISE TEACHES THE MATTER OF PRAYER. "We know not what we should pray for as we ought," and are apt, in this respect, to "ask amiss." But the promises constitute an invaluable, directory of prayer," teaching us: 1. The things for which we ought to ask, both temporal and spiritual. 2. Their relative importance. 3. Their application to others as well as to ourselves (vers. 25, 29). 4. Their chief design (ver. 26). If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, etc. (John 15:7; Revelation 22:20). "Pause over each promise, and let your faith in it blossom into a prayer for it. This will be the true, responsive reading of the sacred Scriptures, wherein there shall be not simply the answering of voice to voice as among men, but the responding of your heart to God. Happy are they in whose souls there is thus a continual recurring 'Amen' to the benedictions of the Lord" (W.M. Taylor). V. PROMISE INCITES THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 1. A reverent regard for God. 2. A lowly estimate of ourselves. 3. Fervent desire for the blessing of God. 4. Childlike confidence in his Word. 5. Unreserved submission to his will. 6. Patience and perseverance. Wait on the Lord, etc. (Psalm 27:14; Luke 11:1-13; Luke 18:1). "Prayer is nothing else but the language of faith, love, and hope: of faith, a believing of God's being and bounty, that he is willing and able to succour us; of love, which directeth us to the prime Fountain of all the good we have and would have, and to the end and glory of God, and regulateth all our choices by it, and to those means which conduce to the enjoying of God; and of hope, which is a desirous expectation of the promised blessing" (T. Manton, 'Works,' 18:72). VI. PROMISE ENSURES THE ANSWER OF PRAYER; not always in the immediate and conscious experience of the petitioner, but always at the proper time (Daniel 10:12), the delay being needful and beneficial; not always in the literal terms of the promise, but often in a more spiritual and glorious manner; and never wholly withheld (1 John 5:14, 15). "He is faithful that promised" (Hebrews 10:23). "The promises of God are the free expressions of his goodness and beneficence; but then their meaning has in it something of that Divine attribute. Nothing that he says can be in the mere narrow proportions of man. The words are necessarily those used by man, but the meaning is that of God; and we may be confident that what will be given in fulfilment of them will be according to the magnitude of the Divine goodness; as far, at least, as the faculties of the recipients will admit, and these can be enlarged. The Divine goodness being transcendently above all other goodness, the gifts of it will be according to its own manner, and not limited to the human import of the words, as if merely preserving the bare truth of the words. So that he will surprise his servants, as they find the earthly terms of his promises translated as it were into celestial language, when they arrive in his presence and have those promises acknowledged" (John Foster, 'Literary Remains'). - D. Parallel Verses KJV: And now, O LORD God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. WEB: Now, Yahweh God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken.