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Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, your anointed and eternal King, crucified for our sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to rule your everlasting Kingdom. And thank you for your living word. Speak to us, we pray, by your Spirit. Teach us thankfulness, and teach us to pray. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

‘David’s Praise and Prayer’ is my title this evening, and we’re looking at the second part of 2 Samuel 7. We thought about the first part last week. Ettie’s been away so there won’t be graphics on the screens, and it’s even more important than usual that you have this chapter open in front of you please. It starts on page 259 in the Bibles.

Last week we saw how David underwent a kind of Copernican revolution of the soul. He went from seeing him and his plans at the centre of things, to realising that God and God’s plans were at the centre – and that God’s plans were mind-blowingly greater than anything he had imagined. Instead of David building God a house, God promised to build David a house (a dynasty) that would be literally eternal. It would last for ever. The only way this covenant with David (this binding, public promise from God) could be fulfilled would be through the coming of a sinless, eternal King. So we saw how this covenant with King David drives the rest of Old Testament history towards the coming of Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God and the eternal King in the line of David.

Ever since Christmas, Vivienne and I have been gratefully anticipating something. That’s because our daughter Katy gave us a lovely Christmas present. Though in fact what she gave us was a promise. She made a covenant with us! She told us that we would be going for two nights to a hotel in Yorkshire, and it was all paid for – by her. All we had to do was turn up. So ever since Christmas, we’ve been really looking forward to this because we trusted Katy’s promise. We know she’s reliable. We thought at first we’d be going in February, but in fact we ended up having to wait a bit longer than we expected –to this month. But we had no doubt that our mini-holiday was coming. So what did we say to Katy? We said, in so many words “Thank you Katy. That’s wonderful. You’re so kind! And please bring it on!” And that’s effectively how King David responds to the promise he’s been given by the Lord. If I can say this reverently – even in comparison to a mini-break in North Yorkshire, what God promised to David was astounding. So David’s prayer in response reflects his stunned amazement. It’s a prayer that’s rich with truth and teaching, so it’s well worth a close look. It’s a prayer to be prayed not just by David personally, but by all of God’s people in Christ.

In fact, you could think of it as a kind of King’s Prayer in the Old Testament, just as we have our eternal King’s Prayer in the New Testament – the Lord’s Prayer. So this is a kind of Old Testament pattern prayer, in the same way that the Lord’s Prayer is a pattern for our own praying. And its basic thrust is very similar:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come.

It’s a response first of praise and secondly of prayer. You can see the setting for David’s praying there at the start of 2 Samuel 7.18. David, it seems, has gone from his palace, into the tabernacle that is the home of the Ark of the Covenant, which he has recently brought to Jerusalem. The Ark is the symbol of God’s holy presence. So David uses all his kingly and even high-priestly privilege as the Lord’s chosen and anointed one to draw near to God. 2 Samuel 7.18:

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said…

Then here comes, first, his praise and, secondly, his prayer. And my two headings reflect that. So:

1. DAVID’S PRAISE: Praise you, Lord, for your greatness, and for all you have said and done so far!

This is 2 Samuel 7.18-24. And this whole prayer is like a string of precious but varied pearls, so it’s worth us taking each bit (each pearl, if you will) in turn and looking at it, so as not to miss the beauty of the individual pearls, before we stand back and look at the whole thing together. I reckon there are seven connected pearls of praise here:

i). There’s David’s acknowledgment of his unworthiness even of the blessing from God of which he’s already been on the receiving end – let alone anything more. The second part of 2 Samuel 7.18:

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

There is a real humility here that’s key for us all when we pray. For a start, David realises that he is a mere minuscule creature, meeting the Creator of all things. If I say this is like an ant encountering an elephant, that’s nowhere near a big enough difference. When we pray, our prayers will only have purchase if we’ve begun to see how insignificant we are, but for the love and grace of God. And it’s not just that we’re mere creatures. We’re sinful creatures too. John Newton tried to put into words the wonder of it all:

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch; like me!

ii). Then the second pearl, set off against that first, is David’s vision of the Lord’s greatness and power. The start of 2 Samuel 7.19:

And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God.

Why small? Because of how big the Lord is. What seems like a massive mountain to us, is just a grain of sand to God. What is most amazing about God is not what he can do for us, but that he cares enough about us to do it. Which he does. And we need to note what David calls God here: O Lord God. That turn phrase (literally “My Lord Yahweh”) is only used here in the Books of Samuel, and it’s the exact phrase used by Abraham when he responds to God’s covenant-promise to him, in Genesis 15. David can see that the promise to Abraham is being fulfilled through him and his seed. O Lord God – it’s reminiscent of what the doubting apostle Thomas cries out when he meets the risen Christ face to face (John 20.28):

My Lord and my God!

iii). There’s David’s recognition of the global and historic scope of this covenant-promise of an everlasting kingdom and an eternal King in his line. This is remarkable. The end of 2 Samuel 7.19:

You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God!

There’s that name again, by the way – O Lord God. In fact David uses that eight times in this prayer. But you see what he says here: this is instruction for mankind. In other words, “this covenant is not just about me and my family. Far from it. This is for the whole of humanity, for all time.” God has opened his eyes to see the immense significance of what he’s just heard from the prophet Nathan. No wonder that vision gets poured into Messianic Psalms from David’s pen.

iv). David realises the inadequacy of his words to express the wonder of what’s happening to him. 2 Samuel 7.20:

And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God!

I often feel as a preacher that my attempts to put into words the wonder of the living Word of God are so inadequate that silence might be preferable. It can feel the same when we pray. It’s a good thing that, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 8.26:

…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

But the Spirit inspires David’s prayer, and the fifth pearl is:

v). David’s insight that the Lord’s promise-making and promise-keeping reveals the Lord’s heart. 2 Samuel 7.21:

Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.

The eternal hope, the grace, the forgiveness, the promise of resurrection, and the goodness and glory of God are all ultimately bound up together in this promise that God has given to David. And they all pour out of the good, generous, gracious and glorious heart of the Lord God. David is unworthy. So are we. But in this promise we can see the heart of God. We can see the loving plan and purpose of God in Christ Jesus for all who put their trust in him. Astonishingly, it is God’s will to bless us.

vi). The sixth pearl is there in 2 Samuel 7.22, and it is that there is only one God:

Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

This is explicit monotheism. Despite all the so-called gods of the nations all around David’s kingdom, the reality is clear. There is only one true and living God – the Lord God. He is not just their national God, in competition with all the others. He alone is God. Jesus alone is Lord. All other so-called gods are imposters. Colossians 1.15:

He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.

And that brings into sharp focus just how astonishing is the privilege of this obscure little nation of Israelites.

vii). So pearl number seven is David’s grasp of the uniqueness and privilege of Israel, redeemed to be the Lord’s people. 2 Samuel 7.23-24:

And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people for ever. And you, O Lord, became their God.

The apostle Peter transposes that into New Testament terms when he says about us, the church (this is 1 Peter 2.9):

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Proclaiming the excellencies of the Lord God is exactly what David has been doing as he pours out his praise to God. That’s the first part of his response to God’s covenant-promise of an everlasting Kingdom in David’s line. That’s David’s Praise: Praise you, Lord, for your greatness, and for all you have said and done so far! Then:

2. DAVID’S PRAYER: Now, Lord, keep your promise! And glorify your great name in the keeping of it.

This is 2 Samuel 7.25-29. Take a look at those. Here they are:

And now, O Lord God, confirm for ever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified for ever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever.

There is a forceful boldness and a clear confidence in this prayer of David here. But it’s the opposite of brash arrogance. It’s possible precisely because David has been humbled. And he also knows that he has been chosen. And he is fully aware that God’s choosing of him is just sheer, amazing, grace. He has brought nothing to the table. It’s all God. As he says there in 2 Samuel 7.27:

Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.

And the essence of the prayer is this: “Lord God, do what you have promised!” Prayer like this only arises with integrity out of praise like we’ve seen in 2 Samuel 7.18-24. But when we have some knowledge of God and of ourselves – because God has opened our eyes and shown us himself and his plans – then we too can pray with confidence and courage. So Jesus says to us in John 15.5-6:

…apart from me you can do nothing…If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

And in the words of Hebrews 4.16:

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

So here are four things for us to learn, from David’s Praise and David’s Prayer:

i). The unworthiness of David, and of God’s people – and of us.

ii). The greatness, power, faithfulness and glory of the Lord God – David’s God, and ours. The only God.

iii). The immensity of the Lord’s blessing of David and his people – and of us, in Christ, the eternal King of the everlasting Kingdom of blessing.

iv). The confidence of David’s prayer for future blessing.

Let us then (by faith in Christ, crucified, risen and ruling as the King of kings) draw near to the throne of grace.

Vivienne and I relied on our daughter Katy’s promise that she had paid for us to go away for two nights to North Yorkshire. And we were right to do so. Katy fulfilled her promise. We went last week. And we had a wonderful couple of days, I’m glad to say. It was a great blessing. There was only one downside. It was soon over. We can utterly rely on the promise of God that he will bless us in Jesus Christ, as we trust our lives to him. That blessing is not something we see now, except in part. We receive it by faith – trusting that the Lord God is a promise-keeping God. He has kept his promise to David. He will keep his promise to us. And the blessing he promises will not soon be over. It will never be over. His is an everlasting Kingdom.

I said at the start that this prayer and praise of David in 2 Samuel 7 is like an Old Testament pattern prayer – a kind of Old Testament equivalent to the pattern prayer of the New Testament – the Lord’s Prayer. Well, let me end by praying again that prayer, taught us by Jesus the eternal King. Let’s pray:

Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.Amen.