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

Ezra, chapter 1, verse 1, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,

that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,

the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia,

so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.

Now we could keep going on reading here in Ezra chapter one about how Cyrus decreed that

God's people could come back to Jerusalem and rebuild there.

But the reason I want to just stop here at verse one and lead us to pray accordingly is because

Ezra 1-1 is making clear that God is sovereign over, yes, all things, including all

leaders in the world. Even the pagan king of Persia is under the sovereign hand of God and His word that the word of the Lord by the

mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. God's word will be accomplished and God will

sovereignly oversee the decisions and decrees and movements of leaders ultimately for the accomplishment of his

purposes. And if that's true of world leaders and world events, well, then one that gives us

just so much confidence whenever we read world news and see anything that's happening.

And there obviously is much mystery here when it comes to evil in the world and suffering in the world.

But the good news of Ezra chapter 1 verse 1 is that God is ultimately in control.

Things are not out of control.

And his word will be fulfilled. His word

that says he will work all these things together ultimately for the good of all those who love

him and are called according to his purpose for his people and that one day all of the evil and the suffering in this world

will be gone. How do we know that? Because God is sovereign over all things and he is

accomplishing his ultimate purposes. So when you think about world leaders, movements of countries, nations,

...