Vulnerability and Justice (2 Samuel 20:3)
And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.
—2 Samuel 20:3
There is a lot of context around 2 Samuel 20:3 that we could talk about, but for the sake of time, I just want to read this verse and pray according to it. It shows how the cost of one person’s sin—namely, David’s sin—extends far beyond themselves.
The conflict that happened in David’s house and in the kingdom during this time affected so many different people, including the women in this story who are virtually abandoned until death. As I read this, I immediately think about vulnerable women and children who are suffering in unimaginable ways right now because of the sins of other people—often people, including men and women, in power.
2 Samuel 20:3 shows the need for mercy in a broken world.
This verse leads me to pray right now:
Oh God, we pray for your mercy toward the vulnerable. We pray for your mercy toward the enslaved in the world. We pray for your mercy toward those who are suffering in the middle of war, conflict, and sin around them. God, we pray for those who are trapped, abused, hurt, and abandoned. God, for those who are suffering in so many ways, please, God, have mercy.
We pray that you would help us to be a reflection of your mercy and your justice. God, help us to do what Micah 6 says: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. We pray that you would help us to work on behalf of the vulnerable, the mistreated, the abandoned, the impoverished, the abused, the enslaved, the trafficked, and the oppressed.
2 Samuel 20:3 calls us to love the vulnerable with Christlike compassion.
God, help us to be a picture of your character and your love. Help us not to be content to put our heads in the sand and turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to those in urgent need around us and far from us. God, help us, as your Church, to be a beacon of love and light in the middle of a dark world.
Lord, please help us to do this with the gospel at the forefront of our minds and on our lips—the good news of your love for every single person who is oppressed, enslaved, trafficked, abused, or in any way hurt, suffering, or in need. God, we pray that the gospel, which meets their greatest need, would reach them.
We pray that you would help us to share the good news of reconciliation to you: victory over sin and all its effects through Jesus, and the hope of a day that is coming when sin and suffering will be no more, when evil will be no more. Jesus, we praise you for making that possible through your death on the cross, for enduring the shame and evil of sinners killing you so that we might be saved from our sins, that we might have eternal life with you, and that we might have this hope to spread in a world of urgent spiritual and physical needs. So God, please help us to be faithful to spread it.
A Prayer for the Mali People
God, we pray specifically for the Mali people of India—for over 17 million of them who have little to no knowledge of the gospel, of your grace, and of your mercy. Not just in India, but in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. God, we pray that the good news of your love, grace, and mercy would spread to the Mali people amidst all kinds of urgent spiritual and physical needs they have.
Oh God, you see a whole world in suffering. We praise you for not leaving us alone in it, for coming to us, Jesus, for dying on a cross for us, and for making life and victory over sin, suffering, and death possible through you. Help us to spread this good news as we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you in a world of urgent need. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
