Episode 1462: The Prayers of the People

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 462 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] David Edey: I'm David Edey. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to plan for the end of your life and leave a legacy is a key.

[00:00:24] And one of the ways to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend Scott Mader.

[00:00:31] Scott Maderer: We've

[00:00:31] got behavior that we do that extends and pushes forward the systems and the processes and the harm. That is the very things that we are praying for grace and praying for God's intervention on. And that, that is the work. And the hard work that only grace can truly, truly do. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.[00:01:00]

[00:01:00] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be. Then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:21] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about 2 Samuel chapter 18, Verses five through nine verse 15 and verses 31 through 33. I share how we often need to remember the power of lifting up prayer in the community, and I also share how that prayer is not about gossip, but rather about grace. Two Samuel verses 18 five through nine 15 and 31 through 33 says.

[00:01:50] The king ordered Yoab and Abishai and Ittiai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with young man Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave orders [00:02:00] to all the commanders concerning Absalom. So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest Ephraim. The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men.

[00:02:14] The battle spread over the face of all the country, and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword. Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth while the mule that was under him went on.

[00:02:35] And ten young men, Yoab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him. Then the Cushites came, and the Cushite said, Good tidings for my lord, the king, for the lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you. And the king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom?

[00:02:54] And the Cushite answered, May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to do him [00:03:00] harm be like that young man. The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, Oh my son Absalom, my son Absalom, would I had died instead of you? Oh Absalom, my son.

[00:03:16] So often in the lectionary, this story picks up in the middle. If you've been following along over the last second, several weeks, as we've been following through Samuel and the passages of David and some of the things that happened, we've jumped forward in time. And there is a lot that happens back in chapter 13 and other chapters all before we get to this point.

[00:03:39] There were things that happened between Absalom and his brother Ammon and his sister. And there's a whole big set of family drama and tension and behavior that happens. And in some ways I wish we could go back and talk through that story. I'm going to leave it to you to read it yourself, but [00:04:00] there is a bit of Absalom's story that kind of puts it in some context where he's clearly not just a hero or a villain or he's a number of things that is a complex story, but it gives you a lot of context of what happens here in this story.

[00:04:22] But in here. In this case, I'm actually using this story to recognize something about prayer. There is a lot of complication to this story and a history behind it, but there's also a simple story of what happens whenever things happen, and we call out in prayer to God. The end of this, where David goes up in private and praise in private is a moment like that.

[00:04:56] But we also have moments where we are called to pray [00:05:00] in community. When as God's people we turn our faces towards God and we offer up things of ourselves, of our words, or of our actions, of our commitments, of confession, and of repentance, and we serve these all up to God. God is the audience of our worship, but we also need to turn our gaze outward towards the world and the people around us.

[00:05:26] We often are called in corporate prayer to lift up prayers for healing, for hope, for transformation, and for grace. We're often called to ask God and call on God to intervene in situations that we barely understand, or for people we don't even know. And yet those prayers can be earnest and filled with faith.

[00:05:49] We offer ourselves as a sign of God's presence sometimes, God's grace, God's redemptive presence. We do actions as well as prayers. [00:06:00] And those moments in my worship that we call those prayers are often called the prayers of the people. And there's this idea, we often call out prayers of intercession, prayers on behalf of someone else.

[00:06:15] And what's interesting is I've seen moments where that actually turns into what I consider an excuse for Christian gossip, where we call out things and we lift up all sorts of information and details, often information that we've heard through rumor or innuendo. We bring things forward not really as an excuse to pray for help for someone else, but rather to share knowledge and information to extend things in a way that is not.

[00:06:46] healthy, but it rather is gossip. And that's not what the prayers of the people are supposed to be. They're meant to be moments where we just extend these things to God. Because here's the truth, God [00:07:00] already knows what's in our heart. God already knows what we're praying for. God already knows the situation in full, deeper and fuller than we ever could.

[00:07:10] So the lifting it up is less about giving information and more about opening our own heart to the transforming work of grace. David in this moment, his anguish over the fate of his son is genuine, even though his son in this story is rebelling against him. Even though his family had been torn apart by bad behavior, not just on the part of his son, but on David's part as well, by selfishness and rage and ego, David still has grace and love for his wayward son.

[00:07:48] He wanted to love him into a new way of being. in the world and now his son is dead and probably part of that pain is realizing that as a parent he had failed [00:08:00] his son. He had a degree of responsibility for this as well and often when we come together in corporate prayer and lift that up we need to recognize we may have had a role or complacent or we've got behavior that we do that extends and pushes forward the systems and the processes and the harm that is the very things that we are praying for grace and praying for God's intervention on.

[00:08:30] And that is the work and the hard work that only grace can do. can truly do. Thanks for listening.

[00:08:40] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, [00:09:00] go over to Facebook. com slash Inspired Stewardship.

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