Heart of a True Believer

Then David the king went in and sat before the LORD, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

2 Samuel 7:18, NASB

When David defeated the Philistines and become resident in the palace which Hiram, king of Tyre, had built for him, he planned to build a house for the Ark of God would reside, for the Ark still resides behind a tent curtain (2 Samuel 7:1,2).

David inquired the prophet Nathan about his plan, who, in turn, agreed and gave him his judgment as a pious and prudent man – not as a prophet (cf 7:3).

That night, the LORD appeared to Nathan and told him His plan for the house of David, that is, his seed will be his successor and the builder of the temple (cf 7:4-16).

Nathan told David everything about the prophecy he received from God.  Upon hearing everything, David sat down to meditate and pray (cf 7:17,18).  In his prayer, we can observe how the heart of a true believer must respond to what God had done to us.

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST BE FULL OF AFFECTION TOWARD GOD (cf 7:18-21)

David expressed his astonishment that he, of such humble birth, and one so little in his own eyes, should not only be raised to the throne, but be assured of the perpetuity of the succession in his descendants, as if he were a man of high degree.

When we pray, we must consider the character and condition of man (Romans 3:23; 6:23) and be reminded of the following:  (a) the promise of Christ includes all; (b) if the Lord God be ours, what more can we ask, or think of? (Ephesians 3:20); and (c) He knows us better than we know ourselves.  Therefore let us be satisfied with what He had done for us. 

What can we say more for ourselves in our prayers, than God has said for us in his promises?

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST ASCRIBE ALL TO THE GRACE OF GOD (cf 7:22-24)

Both the great things He had done for him, and the great things He had made known to him.  All was for his word’s sake, that is, for the sake of Christ the eternal Word.

Many, when they go to pray, have their hearts to seek, but David’s heart was found, that is, it was fixed; gathered in from its wanderings, entirely engaged to the duty, and employed in it. 

Prayer which is from the tongue only will not please God; it must be found in the heart; that must be lifted up and poured out before God.  He builds his faith, and hopes to speed, and sureness of God’s promises.

TRUE BELIEVER'S HEART MUST PRAY FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE OF GOD (cf 7:25-29)

David well knew that all the promises made to him and family were conditional; and therefore he prays that they may be fulfilled.

With God, saying and doing are not two things, as they often are with men; God will do as he had said. 

In the succeeding narratives in the OT showed that David’s posterity did not walk with God, and therefore they were driven from the throne.  All the promises have failed to David and his natural posterity.  Had David’s posterity been faithful, they would, according to the promises of God, have been sitting on the Israelitish throne at this day.

The promises of God are not made to us by name, as to David, but they belong to all who believe in Jesus Christ, and plead them in his name – His spiritual seed to whom God’s promises are fulfilled.