David's Prayer
1 Chronicles 17:16-27
And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house…


God's great and precious promises to David drew forth from his heart this prayer. It is so at all times. The constraining motive of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving is God's great mercy and wondrous love contained in the "exceeding great and precious promises" to the soul. We see also David's great humility: "Who am I, and what is mine house?" God's grace always humbles. We see also how David exalts God - another effect of God's great and precious promises: "O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God to be compared with thee." And all this grace in God is "according to all that we have heard." Every experience of the believer at all times confirms the Divine testimony of God in his Word. He is ready to exclaim as he reads, "It is all true, all of it, and I have found it so." And this God is moreover "the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel and a God to Israel." He is not only the God of his people, but a God to them, to each one. He is all that his name means to each one of his family. And mark David's closing words. "Let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever." This is the end for which we should ask any blessing - that we ourselves may be before him, walk before him and live before him. "Walk before me and be thou perfect," was his word to Abraham of old, and still is to each one of his people; and it is only as God's promises and God's blessings lead to this that they can be real blessings. - W.



Parallel Verses
KJV: And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

WEB: Then David the king went in, and sat before Yahweh; and he said, "Who am I, Yahweh God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?




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