Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord.
– 2 Samuel 21:1
I want to lead us to pray according to this verse, because of the simple picture it represents. And by saying simple, I don’t mean to minimize the significance of three years of famine year after year, even the way the Bible emphasizes this makes clear this was a significant, horrible time, but that’s the point.
2 Samuel 21:1 teaches us to seek God first.
There was a great need among God’s people. So what did David do? He sought the face of the Lord. So when we face great needs, great challenges, obstacles, and trials in our lives, may this be what we do. We seek the face of the Lord instead of immediately first and foremost thinking, how do we fix this? How do we solve this? Yes, we trust God will help us to think through those things, but we need to first and foremost seek the face of God.
Is that the way your mind, your heart, and your life work? When you face challenges is your first impulse? “Let me seek the face of the Lord. Let me get alone with God and just seek his face”. When you are walking through trials and something happens, you hear news or you face a circumstance, an obstacle, just a hardship in any way is your first impulse. “I need to get along with God. I need to seek his face”. That’s what David did.
I want to encourage us to do this in our lives, like for things we are facing, and to do the same thing for others. Whenever we hear about needs in others’ lives, people around us, maybe even people far from us, that we immediately seek the face of the Lord on their behalf, that this would be our impulse when we see need in our lives and in others’ lives.
Immediately, we seek the face of the Lord in a way that, yes, leads us to pray continually because we’re constantly facing things in our lives and seeing needs in others’ lives and in the world around us. So, oh God, we pray that you would teach us to do this, to do 2 Samuel 21:1, to seek your face whenever we face need in our lives or see, hear about, need others’ lives.
2 Samuel 21:1 pictures the power of prayerful dependence.
God, we pray that you would make our impulse to pray continually. Even right now, as we think about things we’re walking through, things we’re facing, things others around us are walking through, are facing… God, we seek your face. We need your help. They need your help. We pray for your mercy, for your provision, for your strength, for your wisdom, for a way through God, for you to do. Only you can do for wisdom to know what we or others should do in the face of needs.
Oh God, we seek your face because we know that you are all powerful. You are all wise. You are all loving. Lord, you hear our cries, and you will answer us when we see your face. You’ll answer according to your power and your wisdom and your love. So make us 2 Samuel 21:1 type of people.
Prayer for the People in Myanmar
Oh God, I think about the people of Myanmar right now who have undergone an earthquake and have experienced such devastation and tragedy on top of the civil war that is continuing. In this God, we seek your face, and we pray for your mercy over the people of Myanmar. We pray for our brothers and sisters there. We pray that you would strengthen them and help them to hold fast, and you would help them to hold gospel light out, that you would draw people to yourself in the middle of this tragedy, to your mercy and your love, and your grace and your comfort.
God, we pray, we intercede. We seek your face on behalf of the people of Myanmar. And God help us to do this. When we see news headlines today, when we hear about this or that happening in the world, help us to seek your face on behalf of others when we interact with others and they share with us challenges they’re going through. Help us, whether with them at that moment or coming away from that conversation to seek your face on their behalf.
And God, amidst whatever we are walking through right now in our lives, we pray, help us to seek your face, and as we do, we pray for your help in every way we need, in every way others need. You are our hope. Oh God, you are our strength. You are our wisdom. God, you are our life. Lord, you are our everything, and you’re the only hope for others around us and the only hope for others in the world. So for everyone in the world. So we seek your face, and we praise you, Jesus, for making this privilege possible for us. We seek your face, we pray all these things in your name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
