The King’s prayer

Most Jersey folk will be familiar with the LORD’s Prayer – the “Our Father”. It was taught by Jesus to his disciples around AD 30. 

But – in bold above – is another “LORD’s prayer”. This one, also addressed to the LORD, dates back to around BC 1000. It was written and prayed by King David of Jerusalem, the Jewish King whose name is recorded in the genealogy of Jesus. It has been preserved over the centuries BC in the Jewish Bible – and is now included in Christian Bibles.

How on earth could this King David have written something which is so very twenty-first century? Today, post-modernism is giving way to the post-truth era. David prayed, “Everyone utters lies to his neighbour; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” Lies to his neighbour? Does your neighbour lie to you? Do you lie to them? Flattery? Do people flatter you? Do you flatter them? Do you know folk who are “double” towards you? Do you praise A to his face - and then rubbish him to B?

 

What about, “May the LORD cut off … the tongue that makes great boasts”? We’re all very much aware that politicians boasted great untruths prior to the Brexit referendum.  The 2014 Tesco accounting scandal involved the boastful overstatement of profits and resulted in a fine from the Serious Fraud Office of £129 million. Donald Trump continues to boast in the global political arena. Some of those who boasted record-breaking sporting triumphs are now proven drug takers. King David prayed that all this – in his day - would stop.

What about, “May the LORD cut off … those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” Chairman Mao Zedong led the China Communist Party’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1962).”Great leap forward”?  When their agricultural reforms (like shooting all sparrows to stop them pecking seeds) resulted in massively reduced grain production (crop-eating vermin thrived because birds didn’t curb them), Mao’s followers used their lips and tongues to over-state every grain harvest. China then allocated grain to the cities – and even exported grain – grain taken from the starving growers. About 39 million died. “Who is master over us?” 

There was no one to help. Actually, was there no one to help? “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” As you read this, I can almost hear you shouting at me, “but what about the 39 million? What did your LORD do about these innocent peasants?” 

Maybe you didn’t really take to heart the complaint to the LORD by King David that “the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.” Maybe you didn’t notice his observation that “everyone utters lies to his neighbour”? Did you think that all 39 million who were effectively killed in the Great Leap Forward were totally worthy in the sight of the LORD? Were all of them as holy as the LORD in heart and action?

In King David’s day there were those about whom the LORD could look down and say “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” King David went on to say with full assurance: “You, O LORD, will keep them … forever.” Were there some like that among Mao’s victims?

 

Habakkuk lived in Jerusalem around 610 BC. People in his day (actually, people who claimed to follow the LORD) were exactly the same as expressed in the above King’s prayer in BC 2000. He asked the LORD to do something. The LORD answered that an ungodly and fierce enemy would do that. Habakkuk was devastated and asked, “Why, LORD?”

The LORD replied that the sin on both sides would receive its just deserts. The only ones who would live (and that forever) would be those who placed their trust in the LORD to provide a perfect righteousness to them.