Pray and Pray Right
Judges 20:18-23
Have you ever offered a prayer for something that ended bad?
When I was in high school, I would pray for a girlfriend.
I didn’t pray for the right girl for me, or even for a girl that would make a good wife.
I just assumed that would come later.
And it did, but only many years later after I learned many hard lessons.
The Israelites had to learn some hard lessons, too, when it came to prayer.
First, they had to learn to pray.
Then they had to learn to pray the right prayer.
Learn to pray (Josh. 9:14-15).
I know a preacher who has a saying, “Remember the Gibeonites.”
The Gibeonites were a people the Israelites were set to destroy.
They were prominent in Canaan before Joshua and the Israelites started their conquest.
They saw what happened to Jericho, Bethel, and Ai, and were afraid.
They sent representatives to Joshua to make peace with them, but they pretended to be from far away.
Joshua fell for the ruse, and the Scripture says, “they did not ask counsel of the Lord.”
They made a treaty with the Gibeonites and they were bound to it.
Of course, due to their ruse, they were relegated to jobs like woodcutters and water carriers.
The lesson here is that Joshua should have consulted the Lord for this decision.
It’s easy to see in hindsight, especially since we knew they were not giving Joshua all the facts.
We don’t always have all the facts when we make decisions, too.
We should make them prayerfully, not making promises that we can’t keep.
Learn to pray right (Judges 20:18-23).
In this passage, those from the tribe of Benjamin in Gibeah had done something heinous, and the other Israelites were told and rose up to make war.
While the Israelites did ask of the Lord, they did not ask the right thing.
They assumed they knew what God wanted, and asked how they should carry out their plan.
We see the result:
They ask the Lord who should go up first.
The Lord says Judah, and the Israelites are defeated.
This happens, not once but twice until finally they go up and defeat the Benjamites (though they do go overboard).
Tens of thousands are killed teaching Israel some hard lessons.
They went up to go to battle against their brothers, not asking whether they should, or how they should handle their heinous acts.
The Lord teaches us how to pray in Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4.
A key phrase that would have helped Joshua against the Gibeonites and the Israelites against the Benjamites: “Do not lead us into temptation.”
That’s not to say the Lord would lead us into temptation, but that the Lord can lead us away from it.
Joshua was tempted to make peace when that’s not what God wanted—some people who can’t make peace with.
The Israelites were tempted to destroy Benjamin (and they almost did) when that’s not what God wanted.
John writes that we should pray according to His will (1 John 5:14-15).
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
When we are faced with such decisions, let us learn to pray and to pray right, according to the will of God.
I should have prayed for a godly woman who would be my wife.
And I did get one, thank God…. eventually.
We took a long time to find each other, but God has blessed us richly.
Would you be blessed richly? (Eph. 1:3).
We know that all spiritual blessings are only found in Christ.
Sure, he blesses many people with homes and families, but only those in Christ will receive spiritual blessings such as salvation.
Do you need to get into Christ this evening, to get into His church?
Paul wrote in Galatians that we get into Christ by being baptized into Christ.
You can certainly do that today—if you’re watching this from far away, we can find a way for you to obey the gospel.
If you’re in need of prayer, we can help with that, too (follow directions on the screen).
Get right with God today!