And a man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, thus says the Lord, because the Syrians have said, the Lord is a God of the Hills, but he is not a God of the valleys. Therefore, I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So basically the scene here is the people of God are facing battle with the Syrians. And the Syrians say that the Lord Yahweh, the God of the people of Israel may be a God of the Hills, but he’s not a God of the valleys. And as a result, God says, I will show the Syrians in this story that I am God over all, and I will give them into your hand and you, and they will know that I am the Lord who reigns sovereign over all.
– 1 Kings 20:28
And there’s a lot we could say about 1 Kings 20:28, but I want to lead us to pray in light of the big picture, purpose of God in this story that we see yet again. In God’s word, God makes clear that he will be exalted as Lord over all the nations, that his name will be worshiped as supreme, as the authoritative Lord over Hills and valleys, over nations and tribes, over peoples and lands.
That God is the Lord of all. When you get to the end of the Bible, Revelation 7, depicts every nation, tribe, and tongue gathered around the throne, singing salvation belongs to the Lord. Praise, honor, and glory belong to the Lord. What does Philippians 2:9–11 say? One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father. One day, the Lordship of God, the Lordship of Jesus will be known among all the peoples and all the nations of the earth and our lives are on this planet to point people to him as Lord.
God, we submit our lives to you today.
This Verse Prays That We Point Others Towards The Lord
And so we pray in two different directions in particular. First, oh God, we pray in submission to you as Lord of our lives. You are the Lord of the Hills and the valleys. You’re the Lord of all peoples and lands. And you are Lord of every facet of each of our lives.
God, we submit our lives to you today. We pray that you would help us to follow you, to honor you, to glorify you as Lord over everything. Lord, over our time, Lord, over our money, Lord, over our words, Lord of our thoughts and desires, Lord of our actions, Lord of our work, your Lord over our families, your Lord over your church, your Lord over it all. You are Lord. And we submit to you and we surrender our lives to you in a fresh way today. And we pray that you’d help us to follow and honor and glorify you as Lord in everything we do.
So God, we pray that you would help us to point others to you as Lord. God, we pray. You help us to introduce others to you as Lord today. Help us to lead other people to see your Lordship, to trust in you as Lord today. God, we pray that would happen in our churches. We pray that would happen in our families, in our neighborhoods. Help us God, to lead others, to see you and submit to you as Lord.
1 Kings 20:28 Prays Among The Nations Of The World
God, we pray for that among the nations, we pray for all the peoples. It was the Syrians here. So God, we pray for your Lordship to be known in Syria today. God, for your Lordship to be made known among emirates in the UAE. God, so few believers among emirates. So God, we pray that the name of Jesus’s Lord would be exalted among emirates. God, we pray that you would use our lives and our families and our churches to point them to you as Lord, to proclaim you as Lord. We think about 2 Corinthians 4:5, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
1 Kings 20:28 Prays That God Uses Our Lives Today
God, we pray that you would use our lives today. This week to proclaim you as Lord to others. Even as we pause at the end of this prayer, just to say how thankful we are that you are Lord over all, that you are the God of the Hills and you’re the God of the valleys. That you are God over all the earth. Oh God, we are so thankful for your Lordship that you reign and rule. And one day, you will show your rule and reign completely in a new heaven and a new earth where sin and suffering and sorrow and death will be no more and all will know that you are the Lord. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly we pray. All these things we pray in your name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
