Examples in the Bible of Those Who Pray-Read the Word

Jacob

Jacob’s prayer in Genesis 32 is the earliest biblical example of prayer that was based on God’s Word (Graver 14). At the beginning of his prayer, Jacob says, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who said to me, Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will do you good” (v. 9). Jacob begins his prayer by praying back to the Lord the words that the Lord previously had spoken to him in Genesis 31:3: “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” After confessing to the Lord that he is unworthy of all of His mercies and asking the Lord to deliver him from Esau, Jacob concludes his prayer by saying, “But You have said, I will surely do you good and make your seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude” (v. 12). Once again at the end of his prayer, Jacob makes reference to the words the Lord had spoken to him earlier, in Genesis 28:14.

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Moses

Moses had an intimate fellowship with God through His speaking. Among all the children of Israel, Moses alone was called up to the top of Mount Sinai to receive and record the Lord’s speaking (Exodus 19:3, 20; 24:2, 4). Through this experience, he came to know the Lord’s words intimately. In his prayer after the children of Israel rebelled against God by making the golden calf, Moses prayed that the Lord would turn from His anger against them for His name’s sake. Then he besought the Lord according to His own promises spoken earlier: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever” (Exodus 32:13). Here Moses blended his prayer with the word spoken by God to Abraham (Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:7, 18), to Isaac (Genesis 26:4), and to Jacob (Genesis 28:13; 35:12) (Graver 16). God honored this prayer and “repented of the evil which He would do to His people” (v. 14).

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David

David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 7:18-29 originated with the Lord’s speaking through Nathan the prophet (v. 27) and is “rich with utterances displaying his reliance upon God’s word” (Graver 17). In verse 19 David says, “but You have spoken.” In verse 21 he continues, “For Your word’s sake… You have done all this greatness….” Here David acknowledges that the Lord had blessed him in order that His own word would be vindicated. In verse 25 David goes on to say, “And now, O Jehovah God, confirm forever the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, and do as You have spoken.” The words “Do as You have spoken” can be considered the essence of his prayer because they encapsulate the theme of David’s prayer (Graver 18). Finally, David concludes his prayer saying, “And now, O Lord Jehovah, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have spoken this good matter to Your servant; now therefore may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may be before You forever; for You, O Lord Jehovah, have spoken it. And with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever” (v. 29). David was clearly another man of God who based his prayer on God’s promises spoken through His Word.

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Ezra

Ezra was “a scribe skilled in the law of Moses” (Ezra 7:6). Because he was so familiar with God’s Word, his prayer to the Lord recorded in Ezra 9:6-15 is replete with references to other portions of the Scripture (Graver 21-22). Ezra begins his prayer by confessing, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have multiplied over our head, and our guilt has increased up to the heavens” (v. 6). This portion of his prayer is taken from Psalm 38:4: “For my iniquities have passed over my head….” Ezra appropriated this verse from the Psalms and applied it in prayer to his present situation, changing the pronoun “my” to “our”. Similarly, after confessing Israel’s longstanding guilt and thanking the Lord for His continuing favor and mercy, Ezra prays,

And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, which You commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering to possess is a land unclean with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations, with which they have filled it from one end to another, and with their defilement. Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever. (vv. 10-12)

The phrase, “the land, which you are entering to possess,” in verse 11 is drawn from Deuteronomy 6:1 and 7:1. Verse 12 is quite significant because it is a composition of four different portions of the Word:

And you shall not make marriage alliances with them: Your daughters you shall not give to their sons, and their daughters you shall not take for your sons. (Deuteronomy 7:3)

If you are willing and listen, you will eat the good of the land. (Isaiah 1:19)

You shall not seek peace with them nor prosperity with them all your days forever. (Deuteronomy 23:6)

…observe and seek after all the commandments of Jehovah your God in order that you may possess the good land and leave it as an inheritance forever to your children after you. (1 Chronicles 28:8)

Ezra was evidently a believer who mingled the Word of God with his prayer.

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The Lord Jesus

The New Testament records that the Lord Jesus was also One who used the Word in His prayer. While He was dying on the cross, He prayed to the Father, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46) and, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Both of these prayers originated in the book of Psalms (22:1; 31:5). Bishop Horne commented on the Lord’s prayers on the cross in the preface to his Commentary on the Psalms:

Thus, he who had not the Spirit by measure, in whom were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who spake as never man spake, yet chose to conclude his life, to solace himself in his greatest agony, and at last to breathe out his soul in the Psalmist’s form of words rather than his own. (Graver 28)

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The Church in Jerusalem

Another example of believers praying with the Word is described in Acts 4:24-30. This prayer is particularly significant because this is apparently the only New Testament record of a prayer in a church meeting (Appeal 11). In this instance, after the release of Peter and John from prison, the church “lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said, Sovereign Master, You are the One who has made heaven and earth and the sea and all things in them” (v. 24). The beginning of their prayer was taken from both Exodus 20:11 and Psalm 146:6. They then continued by praying,

Who, through the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, has said, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples devise vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” (vv. 25-26)

This portion of the church’s prayer was “a verbatim quote of the Septuagint text of Psalm 2:1-2” (Graver 29). In the following verse, 27, they applied this Scripture to their experience: “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel” (Appeal 12). They then concluded their prayer by asking the Lord to grant them “to speak [His] word with all boldness” and that “signs and wonders may take place through the name of...Jesus” (vv. 29-30). Verse 31 indicates that the Lord answered their prayer in a remarkable and unmistakable way: “And when they had so besought, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

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John

The last prayer recorded in the Bible is John’s prayer in Revelation 22:20b: “Come, Lord Jesus!” This prayer was the apostle’s response to the Lord’s warning in 22:20a: “He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly.” After hearing the Lord’s word, John immediately received it and faithfully echoed it through his prayer. Thus, “the entire Bible concludes with the desire for the Lord’s coming expressed as a prayer” (Recovery Version, Rev. 22:20, note 2).

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