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

I will not bring the disaster in his days, but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house.

What a picture!

You read first kings and you see all the evil things Ahab did.

All the ways he defied God and led the people into idolatry and the worship of all kinds of gods.

And yet in these verses we hear about how Ahab tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and went about dejectedly humbling himself before God.

This is what God says to Elijah.

Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me?

Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days.

I can read this and I think, Ahab, after all that he did, he doesn't deserve this kind of mercy.

And then I realize neither do I and neither do you.

I mean this is the beauty of mercy, it's totally undeserved.

And this is an awesome thought that you and I deserve the just judgment of God.

Just as Ahab and every other person in the world has, we have defied God.

We have worshipped other gods instead of the one true God.

We have done evil, we have rebelled against God and yet God has chosen to show us mercy.

When we humble ourselves before him, when we confess our sin and the humility of our hearts and turn repent of it.

Oh God, we praise you for your mercy and our lives.

God, I praise you for your mercy and my life. Who am I to even be?

Communing with you in prayer right now to be leading others in prayer, to be reading your word, to be talking about your mercy.

God, I don't deserve this. You know me.

You know me better than anybody else and you know I don't deserve your mercy.

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