Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Isaiah chapter 19, verse 22, says,

And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing.

And they will return to the Lord,

and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

This is such an interesting verse because you see these words back to back, striking and healing.

God's striking Egypt and healing Egypt, which causes Egypt to return to the Lord.

And God hears their pleas for mercy and heals them. I think about my own life.

I think about times when I have been walking in disobedience to God,

turning from God, running from God. And there is a striking that God in his mercy brings

as brought in my life where he has disciplined me like a good father

disciplining his children. He has shown me there are consequences to my sin and he's caused

me to feel those consequences, to realize those consequences.

And in doing that and striking in that way, he's brought healing to me.

He's heard my pleas for mercy as I've said, oh God, forgive me for what I've done.

Forgive me for how I've run away from you. And God in his mercy has heard my

cry for forgiveness and has brought healing to me. And so this is where we're reminded of

the need for striking in this sense in our lives.

We need God to discipline us, in love for Him to show us when we are wandering from Him,

running from Him, even for Him to show us the consequences of sin,

to show us the effects of sin in our lives in ways that

are not pleasant.

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