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

2 Samuel chapter 3, verse 39.

And I was gentle today, though anointed king, these men, the sons of Zuraa, were more severe

than I.

The Lord repay the evil doer according to his wickedness.

So there's a lot going on here in 2nd Samuel 3 to lead up to this verse, but I'll just

summarize it briefly. The main point in the end here is Joab, one of the sons of Zuria, has

murdered Abner, and David is shirking his responsibility as the anointed king to exact

justice for Abner's murder. And the reason David doesn't carry out justice is because he's

afraid of the strength of Joab. He's afraid of the strength of the sons of Zuria. And in this verse, we see the tendency or the temptation in our own hearts and lives to not

obey God, to not do what we should do according to his word, because we're afraid of what

others might say about us or do to us or afraid in any number of other ways.

I just want to encourage you, even as I think about this in my own heart and life,

think about any ways right now that God is calling you to obey him,

that you are not obeying him because you are afraid of what it might cost you.

You're afraid of what others might say about you.

You're afraid of what others might do to you.

Any areas of your life where you're not obeying, where you're disobeying because of fear.

And you and I can so easily justify, in a sense, not acting in obedience

to God because we think it would be better for us if we didn't. So let's pray based on Second

Samuel chapter 3, verse 39. God, please help us to obey you without fear. Please help us to obey you, period. No matter what that means for us,

no matter what that leads to in our lives, help us to do your word without fear of anything in this

...