Faith Vs. Presumption

"David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground" (2 Sam. 12:16, ESV; see 2 Sam. 12:15-23).

This passage comes as a result of one of the saddest events in all Scripture. David has taken his friend's wife as a mistress and conceived a child. When his attempts to cover up his sin fails, David has his friend Uriah killed. After the Lord confronts David's sin through the prophet Nathan, David is informed that the child will die. Following the birth and subsequent illness of his child, we find David on his face before the Lord.

The "elders of his household" continue to go into where David was trying to persuade David to get up and eat. They mistake his prayerfulness for grief. While he may have been motivated by grief, over his sin and its impact on his young child, David is still praying. All of the elders' attempts to "comfort" David fall on deaf ears. He will not leave his post. His actions cause great confusion when word reaches him of his son's death. He gets up and eats.

When questioned about this turn of behavior, David responds, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Sam. 12:22-23, ESV).

David seems to understand something we often miss. David understands that you cannot presume upon the grace of God. Prayer is a request for mercy. Mercy is a something that cannot be merited. If it is owed, it is not mercy. Somehow, we have come to believe that the act of praying obligates God to answer in the manner and time in which we specify. David isn't afraid to seek God's mercy. He is just aware that if God chooses to answer it will be mercy. It is God's right to say, "No." It doesn't make him less merciful. The fact that we can approach him in prayer at all is an act of great mercy. As is the reality that he delights in answering his peoples prayer.

Prayer is not a right, it is a privilege. God invites us to approach him in prayer--to know him intimately. He allows us to participate in his work, through intercession, but he isn't dependent upon us. He has appointed prayer as a vehicle through which he moves in his people and throughout the world. For this reason, prayerlessness is sinful. However, as we pray we must not presume on God.

There is a vast difference between praying in faith and praying in presumption. Prayer in faith always exalts in God, even when it doesn't receive the answer it seeks. Presumptuous prayer leads to bitterness at God's "failure" to respond. Those who pray in faith submit themselves (and their prayers) to the Lord. If he chooses to not to answer, they trust his wisdom and grace. Those who pray presumptuously desire God's submission to their request. David exemplifies praying in faith by stating, "Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child might live?"

Some might object to speaking of prayer in this way. They might conclude that this kind of prayer lacks confidence. However, that is not the case. I believe that David was fully confident is God's ability to hear his prayer and heal his child, but he did not assume that what he knew of God's character and ability meant that God must act in a certain way as dictated by his own prayer. David was confident, but not demanding. Like David, we must pray in full confidence of God's ability and character, while avoiding presuming on his grace.