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

Second Chronicles chapter 36, verses 22 and 23.

Now 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,

Thus says Cyrus King of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth,

and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem,

which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord His God be with him,

let him go up. So here's why I want to lead us to pray according to these two verses, because they're the last two verses

in the book of Second Chronicles, which tells the story of so many kings, some of them good

and righteous, most of them evil and wicked in ways that lead right before this in 2nd Chronicles chapter 36 to the destruction of Jerusalem

like the paragraph right before what I just read talks about Jerusalem being captured and burned

the Chaldeans or the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem, taking God's people into exile. And Second

Chronicles chapter 36 could end at verse 21 that Jerusalem was destroyed because of the sin of God's

people. But it doesn't stop there. Instead, we have these last two verses that remind us that God is faithful

to his people, despite their sin against him. And his word will prevail. According to the word

of the Lord, God ends up raising a pagan king, Cyrus King of Persia, to one day restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple

in Jerusalem. And I share all of that to encourage you today. I obviously don't know all that's

going on in your life or your family or your work, but I'm guessing there's some of you listening to this right now

who are at a low point and things are not working out the way you had planned

in any number of ways.

And you might be tempted to despair or dismay or hopelessness thinking this is the way this story

...