When I think of prayer, I think of God being in control, even when my eyes do not tell me the truth based on what I see. For He is working behind the sences in areas that my eyesight does not allow me to engage.

When I read the story of David fighting against his own son, I thought of how difficult it must be for family to be fighting and killing each other because they happen to be on different sides. God must have known the sorrow in David’s heart. I knew this to be true when I read this verse.

The fighting spread over the countryside, and more men died in the forest than were killed in battle. – 2 Samuel 18:8 GNT

At first I ran by it, had to stop and re-engage. If there were 20,000 armed men, more than 10,000 died not because someone killed them, but because they came across a mishap in the woods. It was if the desire in David’s heart was prayer in the ears of God and He answered by making sure there was minimal damage when it came to the outcome of this civil war.

These are the stories that we never hear about because someone thought it unnecessary to share, but this one was, and I see the hand of God, His mercy and grace, where and when it mattered most. I have to remind myself that He is in control, He has a plan, it matters because I matter. I am so thankful He is engaged with me.

“While this book is on the doctrine of Scripture, and hardly touches on prayer, Ward maeks a case that the Bible is “the primary measn God has given us for coming to encounter him.” He argues for this as he expounds a very high view of the authority and inerrancy of the Bible. Teh implications of is definition are enormous for prayer. With this view of the Bible, prayer combined with scriptural meditiation can be a true dialogue or conversation with God.” – Timothy Keller: Ward, Timothy – Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God.