A King's Prayer of Awe (That You Can Use)

As I have said before, King David is one of my very favorite biblical characters. This dude just had so much passion going on! One minute he's in the clouds, and the next minute he's scraping the bottom of the bucket, lower than dirt. Today, we are going to look at a prayer of his, and really focus on how his view of God leads to only one logical response that we can follow with.

Towards the end of his reign as king of Israel, David wanted desperately to build a temple for God. His logic was simple: if the mortal king of Israel has a majestic palace, how much more does the King of all deserve? Alas, God did not let David build. David had shed far too much blood in his life, and the honor of building the temple would instead fall to Dave's son, Solomon.

Instead of pouting about not being the one to build, David hosted a massive fundraising project, in which he gave generously (even for a king) for the project and led the leaders of Israel to follow suit. After all the fundraising is completed, and David sees the massive amount of money, he is ecstatic. He proceeds, as he did more than once, to worship in front of everyone. Here's what he said:

"May You be praised, LORD God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity.Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name." -1 Chronicles 29:10-13, HCSB

What a prayer! Let's look at the three-fold part of this prayer:

1. He states God's name and rejoices in His traits. He opens with praising the LORD God (Yahweh) of Israel, and then dives off into God's traits and characteristics. He discusses God's everlasting nature. He discusses His greatness, power, glory, splendor, and majesty.

2. He gives God His dues. He admits to God that the entire universe belongs to Him, and that the Kingdom is His. He is exalted as head over all. Even riches (like those that David and Co. just gave to build the temple) and honor and power (like David's kingship) and might and strength are all a product of God. Without His giving it, we have none of those things.

3. He reacts to all this with praise and thanksgiving. There are only two responses to a God like what David has just described: indifference and awe. If you could care less about this God, you have not grasped the majesty and power and greatness of God. Just look at how the beings in the throne room of God react to Him:

"When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:

You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because You were slaughtered,
and You redeemed people
for God by Your blood
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
You made them a kingdom
and priests to our God,
and they will reign on the earth.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice:

The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy
to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing!

I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say:

Blessing and honor and glory and dominion
to the One seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped." -Revelation 5:8-14, HCSB

That, my friends, is the correct response to this great God. All-out praise and worship and awe. I urge you to take all three of the pieces of David's prayer, and make a prayer that will leave you in awe of God.

For more into the traits of God that will spread your view and understanding of His majesty and greatness, check out:

-He has always been in existence, and always will be (Psalm 90:2, Psalm 100:5)
-He is everywhere, at one time (Jeremiah 23:23-24, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Isaiah 43:2, Hebrews 13:5)
-He is powerful over all (Jeremiah 32:17, Genesis 18:14, Luke 18:27)
-He is never changing (James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8, Hebrews 1:10-12, Psalm 102:25-27)
-He knows all (1 John 3:20, Psalm 139:1-6, Isaiah 40:13-14)