A Father's Prayer
A Father’s Prayer
Psalm 144:11-15
A man overheard a conversation between his son and two other little boys. The boys were comparing their dads. One boy said proudly, “My dad knows the mayor of our town!”
Another said, “So, my dad knows the governor of our state!”
Then the man heard his son say, “That’s nothing – my dad knows God!”
When he heard this, the man quickly slipped away to his room and with tears in his eyes said, “O God, I pray that my boy will always be able to say, ‘My dad knows God.’ “
How about it, Dad? Do you know God?
Have you come to a saving relationship with God faith in Jesus Christ?
Are you walking with God everyday?
Are you spending time before God in prayer?
Is it your desire to hear His voice, to see His face, and to know His heart?
Today, I want us to look into the heart of a dad who had a heart for God.
King David of Israel wasn’t a perfect man. There were times in his life when he sinned, repented, and found God’s forgiveness. He wasn’t a perfect dad, either. We read the story of his family and we find that he made some major mistakes in bringing up his children.
But David was a man who wanted to please God with his life. He wanted God’s hand to be upon his family. And he poured out his heart in prayer to God.
Psalm 144 is a journal of one of David’s prayers to God. It’s a prayer of trust in God. It’s a prayer of dependence for God’s hand of protection, prosperity, and provision to be upon David’s life and his family. Read with me the words of this father’s prayer:
[Read Psalm 144:11-15.]
Wow! What a heart for God David had! What a prayer for us to learn from!
I want us to let the Holy Spirit take us by the hand as we look at this passage, and I want us to think about how God desires for us to pray.
Though David was praying as a father, he was crying out to God for families and sons and daughters throughout Israel. So, this is a message for every person here, whether you’re single or married or whether you’re a mother or a father or a son or a daughter.
First, we can pray for . . .
1. God’s Protection from Our Enemies.
Notice the words of verse eleven:
Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood— (Psalm 144:11)
As David wrote this Psalm, he recognized the dangers that his enemies posed.
He asks God to “rescue” him. The word for rescue was used to describe an earthquake, when the ground would open up and there would be a split in the earth. David was praying, “God, put a gaping chasm between my enemies and me. Put them far on one side of that canyon and put me on the other. Rescue me.”
David also asks God to “deliver” him. The word means to save someone or to snatch someone out of a dangerous situation.
From whom did David want to be rescued and delivered? From “the hand of foreigners.” The word “foreigner” means a stranger. For David, a stranger was someone who did not know him and who did not know His God. He was speaking of the pagans around him who worshipped idols of wood and stone. He was speaking of the wicked people around him who walked in the paths of sin and evil. He was speaking of the violent people around him who desired to kill him and ravage his family.
Notice what he says about his enemies: “whose mouth speaks lying words and whose right hand is a hand of falsehood.” David knew that his enemies were liars. The lie they most loved to tell was: “God can’t help you.”
That’s you’re what your enemies will try to say to you: “God can’t help you. God can’t help your marriage. God can’t help your children. God can’t help your family.”
But the man who follows God says, “The only help I need and ultimately the only help I have comes from my God. So I will call on Him.”
What kind of protection was David seeking? You find it spelled out in the second part of verse 14:
Psalm 144:14b That there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no outcry in our streets.
He was asking for protection from crime – “breaking in.” He was asking for protection from his children being taken away – “going out.” He was asking for protection from a violent society – “that there be no outcry in our streets.” In every way, David sought the protection that only God could bring.
The same is true today. Only God can bring protection to our families.
It was midnight. The little girl – eight years’ old – came to the doorway of her parents’ bedroom. Her father could see her silhouette in the soft glow of the night-light. “Daddy … I’m scared.”
It was the third time that night they had covered this territory. He took her by the hand, walked her to her bedroom, and pulled back the covers.
“Rachael,” her dad said, “did you go over your Bible verses?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“And you counted sheep?”
“And you talked to the Shepherd?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, I want to tell you a secret.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, you see . . . some people seem to need more sleep than others. And I’m one of those who doesn’t sleep as much as you. Have you ever found me sleeping?”
“Um . . . no.”
“So, if a burglar comes, I’ll be awake, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And if a monster ever comes to visit, he can find me just around the corner, can’t he?”
“Then go to sleep, Rachael . . . Daddy is awake.”
He kissed her forehead. And her nose. And her dimpled chin. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too, Daddy.”
Now, the truth is, every father sleeps. I fall asleep. It amazes my family how quickly I can fall asleep and under what circumstances. Twice in the past week and a half, I’ve fallen asleep in the middle of a shopping mall!
But you fall asleep, too.
And, even if we’re awake, there are some dangers we can’t protect our families from. No matter your strength, your watchfulness, your artillery – no matter what kind of fortress you built or what kind of security system you install – you cannot `perfectly protect that family that is so precious to you.
But we can call upon a God who never sleeps, who never stops watching, and whose power is able to protect us perfectly.
David understood this. He wrote in Psalm 18:
Psalm 18:2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
In another place, the book of Psalms says of our Heavenly Father
Psalm 121:3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Psalm 121:4 Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
Our God never sleeps. And He is able to protect us from our enemies.
We can pray for God’s protection from our enemies. But then I want you to notice another way that we can pray. We can pray for . . .
2. God’s Prosperity for Our Children.
In verse 12, David turns his attention toward his sons and daughters, and all the sons and daughters of Israel. He calls on God to prosper them. Listen to his plea before God:
Psalm 144:12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style;
Notice the language he uses in talking about their sons: “That our sons may be as plants” – not weeds, not thorns, not something wild and out of control, but something productive, something fruitful, something beneficial. He continues, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth” – not a withered plant, not scrawny or yellow or dried up, but a something strong, something vital.
We need young men today who are growing up strong in the Lord. We don’t need slackers. We don’t need cowards. We need compromisers. We need young men who will take up the standard of godliness and holiness and say: “I want my life to make a difference for Jesus!”
The prayer David prays for his daughters is a little harder to understand at first: “That our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style.” Many interpreters believe that David was comparing godly daughters to the cornerstones of the temple, those beautifully carved pillars that both adorned and upheld the house of God.
He was asking for God to bless his home with young ladies who were strong in their convictions and godly in their character. He was praying that his daughters were be graceful and beautiful not only in their appearance, but in their minds and in their hearts.
He was praying: “God give us daughters of modesty and virtue. God give us daughters of purity and holiness. God give us daughters of strength and conviction.”
We can pray the same way – that God will prosper our children. We want God to bring them prosperity – not only physical prosperity and not only material prosperity and not only educational prosperity – but spiritual prosperity.
When I visited Saint Paul’s cathedral in London, I was told a legend about the construction of that magnificent structure. The tale goes that Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, came to inspect the cathedral’s progress one day. He came upon three stonemasons. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” The man replied, “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second man, who responded, “I am mixing mortar.” Then he came to the third stonemason and asked, “What are you doing?” With a gleam in his eye, the man answered, “Why, I am raising a great cathedral!”
Perhaps some fathers and mothers here can relate to those stonemasons. If a bystander came along and asked us what we were doing, we could respond, “I’m changing diapers and feeding a baby.” Or, “I’m driving my kids all over town to their activities!” But when we see the bigger picture, we’ll be able to say: “With God as my helper, I’m raising up a godly man!’ “With God as my helper, I’m raising up a godly woman!”
That’s why we pray with them. That’s why we read the Bible with them. That’s why we bring them to Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. That’s why we bring them to this house of God for worship. That’s why we call their names in prayer. We are asking for God to use us to build up young men and young women who will love Him and obey Him.
As we look at this father’s prayer, we learn that God wants us to pray for protection from our enemies and prosperity for our children. But then, we discover another way we can pray:
We can pray for . . .
3. God’s Provision for Our Homes.
In verses 13 and fourteen, David prays very specifically for God to provide for his family and his nation.
Psalm 144:13 That our barns may be full, supplying all kinds of produce; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
Psalm 144:14a That our oxen may be well laden.
He was saying, “God, grant that our fields would be fruitful and that our flocks would be productive.” He was living in an agricultural economy.
We might pray: “God, grant that our businesses will make a profit, that our bank accounts would grow, and that we’d have enough to pay our bills.” There’s nothing wrong with praying like that. There’s everything right about praying like that.
During Super Bowl 37, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway. In that film, Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down and stranded him on a desert island for years.
In the commercial, there was a guy who looked like Tom Hanks did on that island. His hair and beard are overgrown. His skin looks liked tanned leather. His clothes have turned into rags. Then, this castaway FedEx employee goes up to the door of a suburban home with a package in his hand.
When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, “Thank you.”
But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?”
She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”
Everything he needed was in that package. May I tell you this today: everything you need is in Jesus Christ. God is able to supply everything you need.
God is able to provide for you. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
When you don’t know how you’re going to pay the power bill, God is able.
When it seems like your marriage is standing on its last leg, God is able.
When your children have wandered far from the paths of righteousness, God is able.
When your body is in pain and your mind is stressed, God is able.
When you don’t know where to turn, God is able.
He is able. I’m talking to some fathers today and mothers today who are working so many hours to take care of your family that you barely get to see your family. I’m talking to some Christians today who are not honoring God with their tithes and offerings. I’m talking to folks today who are continually worried, distracted, grumpy, and preoccupied with your problems. And all of these symptoms I have described are present in your life because you have not come to terms with those three simple words:
God is able!
He’s able. So call on Him and pray for His provision for your life and for your children and for your marriage and for your home.
David prayed for God’s protection from his enemies, he prayed for God’s prosperity for his children, he prayed for God’s provision for his home, and then, notice how what he says at the end of this prayer:
Psalm 144:15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose God is the Lord.
It’s true for dads. It’s true for everyone. We’ll only really have joy when we know God.
I want to ask you the same question I asked at the beginning of this message: Do you know God? Have you come to a saving relationship with God faith in Jesus Christ? Is it your desire to hear His voice, to see His face, and to know His heart?
A man once asked his daughter what she thought were the biggest problems fathers have with kids. Jennifer thought for moment, then said, “Dads have too many ‘tomorrows.’ “
He said, “What do you mean?”
She said, “You know, ‘I’ll play with you tomorrow, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’ “
She was right. Too many tomorrows. Don’t wait until tomorrow—or you’ll end up wasting too many todays.
If you’re a father, may I challenge you, don’t wait till tomorrow. Right now. Right now. Right now is the time to say, “Lord, I want to know you and walk with you today. I want to be your man in my home beginning right now.”