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

Job chapter 8, verse 4.

If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

Oh, what horrible counsel from Bildad.

He just said to Job,

obviously your children died

because of some sin they committed.

God's given them into the hand of their transgression.

There's so much here to reflect on. But the reason I want to read this verse

and pray according to this verse is because of what it takes me back to in my mind in Job

chapter 1 when Job prayed for his kids that God would keep them from sin.

I love the picture of this dad interceding for his kids,

praying for their protection from sin.

And from all we know, God answered that prayer.

They didn't sin.

And they didn't die because of sin.

They had committed against God.

Bill Dad's counsel is wrong.

Just because something bad happens to a child, doesn't mean that child has sinned by any means. Yes, generally all people have sinned.

And yes, all suffering in the world is ultimately a result of sin in the world, but not in a way

that is necessarily in every circumstance attributable to some specific sin in any one of our

lives, including a child's life.

...