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

First Samuel chapter 24 verse 17. He said to David,

you are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.

This is Saul speaking to David after all the times that Saul had tried to attack and kill David

and David had refused when he had the opportunity to kill Saul or take his throne. He didn't do it.

And Saul said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good,

whereas I have repaid you evil. When I read this verse, I think about the temptation we all have when

others are doing evil toward us to repay them with evil, to do evil back toward them.

And this is what's natural to us. This is what's in our flesh and so for us to ask God,

based on first Samuel 24 verse 17 for grace, to do good in the face of evil,

to repay good for those who do evil to us. This is Jesus saying, love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you. This is the gospel, God, though we have rebelled against him.

He has pursued us in love. Jesus has died on the cross for sinners who have rebelled against him.

The cross is a picture of good in the face of evil. And so we pray, God, help us to do that,

which is not natural to us. God, help us when people do evil toward us, to do good toward them.

God, we pray that you would keep us from repaying evil for evil. God, deliver us from all of our

tendencies to even think or desire evil things, unkind things about others. God, we pray that in our

thoughts, our desires, our words, our actions that you would help us in a completely

Christ-like counter ourselves counter-cultural way to do good, even to those who do evil against us.

God, in this, help us to learn more the depth of your love for us in the gospel.

Jesus, we praise you for your example for us. We praise you for taking our sin, our evil upon

yourself in our place so that we might be saved from our sins, that we might be filled with your

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