Always pray and never lose heart.

NHOP School of Pray - How to Pray for Government, session 12 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

hi everybody Welcome to session 12 of our series on how to pray for government it's our last session today and I've entitled this one always pray and never lose heart okay that's taken from Luke 18 verse one a parable where Jesus taught his disciples that we should always pray and never lose heart and we're going to look at how that attaches to to this whole theme we've been looking at of how to pray for government okay that's the kind of the theme we want to end on here is that we should always pray always pray for our government for our leaders for those in authority and never lose heart and uh We've looked at you know uh over this series we've looked at how the kingdom

of God is primarily Advanced not through government but through the church being Salt and Light in our communities that's how the government the kingdom of God comes to the Earth is through the church not through our political systems okay but where they overlap is our government's policies can affect the conditions for for in the society for the church to carry out its Mission okay um government can either create you know policies that are favorable to the spread of the Gospel like freedoms of religion worship speech conscience Etc um or they can create conditions that resist the spread of the gospel and we see see that in more closed countries today forced values forced beliefs

making you know not having freedom of worship and and so on and so that's where it is important for the church to be engaged in the political system um to be engaged in the political sphere is we want to work towards seeing conditions that are favorable for the spread of the Gospel in our land um having said that you know what happens after an an election okay uh whichever way an election goes okay the mission and the work of the church does not change whether we get a favorable government or a government that's opposed to Christianity it doesn't change our mission our purpose our work we're still about evangelism discipleship worship and so on that's still the focus of the church

so um so really an election should not alter what we're doing and what we're about if a good government is elected you know a government that we perceive to be good uh we we keep on praying we pray for the church to be vigilant and not complacent I think we've seen that over the years when we get a good government in place the church can sometimes become complacent and think ah everything's good we got a good government we you know we can Coast um we should also pray that the church would remain humble and not become arrogant and uh and pushy with with our influence um it's important for us to pray for the church in those ways under a good government now if a bad

government is elected again quotations if a government we perceive is bad we pray for the church to have boldness courage and endurance to continue in the face of resistance and I've got some passages uh some examples of prayers for you there um either way we keep praying for the church to do what it's supposed to do no matter what kind of government is elected we always keep praying for our elected officials to lead righteously so that it will go well for our nation right that's 1 Timothy 2 again Paul wrote that when I believe when Nero was the emperor like we're talking about a bad Emperor and he's still saying pray for leaders and all those in Authority we don't do it just

for the ones we like we' always pray for leaders and those in Authority um the trend is and I think we've seen this over the past several years Chris even mentioned this a few weeks ago we've we've seen this trend you know the trend is that we rally to pray in the weeks leading up to an election but then we kind of Go Back To Life as we know it after the election has passed few weeks ago Chris was commenting on how you know in the weeks leading up to the US election most of us were bombarded with calls to fast and pray and since then that's kind of gone silent right um but the most common instruction given to us concerning Prayer in the Bible is that we are to

remain steadfast or consistent in prayer the goal is we want to see sustained prayer and uh a few passages for you there obviously first Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing um Matthew 7 ask and it will be given to you seek and you'll find knock and it will be open to you if we're not asking seeking or knocking we won't be receiving or finding or or seeing doors open it's the one who asks receives so we keep asking the one who seeks finds so we keep seeking we keep praying we stay in prayer and uh and then again I've mentioned there for you Luke 18 and the end of that Parable he says verse seven will not give God go will not God give Justice to his elect who cry to him day

and night which again is a is a way of saying persistently cons consistently without without stopping without resting without it doesn't mean 247 from each person but it means that we're staying in a continuous our prayer life is active and continuous that's the that's the goal that's the purpose okay now having said all that you know Proverbs 13:12 hope deferred makes the heart s sick sometimes you know when there's delays in answers um or we're not seeing the change that we're praying for and things like that when hope is deferred the heart's sick we it becomes more difficult to pray right so that's what I want to kind of speak to a little bit it's normal to get discouraged when

we don't see answers to prayer um or even even worse when we seem to see the opposite happen of what we prayed for and habach faced that same challenge he habach I believe lived during the time of one of the Kings we're going to talk about in a few minutes um and he was praying for God to break in and deal with rampant sin and unrighteousness in Judah and he was getting discouraged because he wasn't seeing the answers um and God assured him he would answer at first he said don't worry I've seen the problem I've seen what's going on I'm I'm gonna answer it you may not believe how I'm going to answer it and uh and habach kind of pushes back a bit and then God says this in in habach 2:3

the vision the answer I'm giving you awaits its appointed time it hastens to the end it will not lie's saying it's going to happen if it seems slow wait for it hang in there don't give up it will surely come it will not delay it feels like it's delayed to us but to God in his timing it will not delay it's coming and then verse four behold his soul is puffed up it's not upright within him you know speaking of of the proud and arrogant and so on but this statement the righteous shall live by his faith I added that in there because it's this thing of the righteous will live by faith there's there's something righteous about believing the word of God holding on to it and and

continuing to contend with him even when it feels like nothing's happening okay when we think the Lord is being slow to act it's usually him exercising patience and longsuffering we mistake uh inactivity uh for the idea that maybe God is uninterested or or disconnected from what's going on actually it's that he's slow to anger and he's far more patient than we are and he's he's inviting us to keep contending with him to keep holding on to him in prayer in that meantime again it's not indifference on God's part it's longsuffering and patience it's important for us to remember that so uh you know letter B here on the second page when we get discouraged in prayer

especially as it relates to government it's good for us to remember who God is and what he is like because it our our our reason for praying is not is not so much built in what we're asking for but the whole essence of prayers is to understand it's the one we're praying to and contending with and wrestling with not in a adversarial way but in a you know we're working through this thing um it's important for us to remember the nature of the one we're praying to because that's where our confidence in prayer lies and uh few passages for you here that remind us about him Exodus 34 when God shows Moses's Glory verse six the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the

Lord a god merciful and gracious slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and yet by no means will clear the guilty okay Psalm 145: 89 repeats very much the same thing the Lord is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love the Lord is good to all and his Mercy is over all that he has made and then Micah 7:18 this is a big one to hold on to michah says who is a God Like You Who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance you do not stay angry forever but Delight to show Mercy it's important for us to remember God

Delights in showing Mercy that's what he wants to do you know James said it this way Mercy triumphs over judgment the idea being God would ra rather show Mercy than move in judgment that's why he's slow to anger that's why he's patient to move he's giving people time to repent and turn he would rather show Mercy okay and this is the point of Jesus parable in Luke 18 you know in that Parable he paints a picture of a of a widow who is persistently petitioning an unrighteous judge for Justice from her adversary and and the judge is worn down by her the point of the parable is not so you need to nag God like a persistent Widow the point Jesus made was we are

not a a powerless Widow and he is not an unrighteous judge we're the elect of God verse six of that Parable we are the elect of God he's already shown us favor by choosing Us by drawing us to himself so if a persistent Widow can see Justice serve here's the point how much more will God move on behalf of the ones he's already chosen that's the point of it we don't have to come with the the posture of a persistent Widow begging and negging and pleading and hoping to break God down actually wants us to come with the understanding we're the elect and chosen of God and he Delights he Delights to answer fe uh Luke 12:32 fear not little flock it's your father's good

pleasure to give you the kingdom he wants to answer our King our prayers that are in line with your kingdom come your will be done fear not hang in there don't give up it's his good pleasure to give you the kingdom and Matthew 711 if us being evil he just went through you know which one of you if your son asks you for bread are you g to give him a stone instead right or if he asks you for fish you're gonna give him a snake he says no of course not and he says if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him so our confidence in prayer Our encouragement in prayer is not in us or the prayers

we're praying we're asking for good things it's not in that our confidence in prayer is in the nature of the one we're praying to knowing that he's good and he Delights to answer he Delights to move he will give Justice when is elect Christ out to him day and night that's the point it's in his nature and character that's where our confidence lays and so having said that I want to look at you know so taking this into praying for government I want to look at examples of God's mercy towards undeserving government leaders okay this is Roman numeral 3 in your in your notes and I want to highlight this because we we've shared this before um uh Rob and Fran kind of shared with with Chris and

Marilyn when they came in at National House of Prayer they shared that in the wake of the 2015 election okay when the when the conservative party lost we had a conservative government for nine years I think it was um and Justin Trudeau and the Liberals came into Power uh they shared that the flow of intercessors coming to to Ottawa to prey it slowed to a trickle and uh there's a problem with that because it showed we were happy to come and pray for a conservative government but we weren't as excited to come and pray for a liberal government and part of that may have been discouragement over feeling like prayers weren't answered in the election although if you go back to habach you

might again if you read habach story you might find God sometimes answers our prayers in ways that we don't think is the right answer but God and his omnition he knows what he's doing but uh I want to share these examples to give us uh encouragement to always pray and never lose heart for our government leaders especially if we don't see the results we want to see in an election okay especially in that case so I want to give you three examples here number one is King Ahab and you can read about him starting in First Kings uh 16 or 17 King Ahab was the worst of all of Northern Israel's terrible Kings if you remember Ahab is the one who married Jezebel Jezebel still gets a lot of AirPlay even

today we you know we're familiar with some of the problems there um so basically he opened the door Northern Israel had always been um or had never been faithful to the Lord after the after the kingdom split because their first king jeroboam if you remember he built two golden calves set one in the north and one in the South uh in bethl and he told Israel you know here are your Gods worship them and so they had always been astray because of that but about a hundred years later Ahab comes on the scene marries Jezebel and that opens the door to now we've got Bale worship coming in and asholes and all this stuff so not only do you have this religion of convenience with these two

golden Cals but now it's opening the door to all sorts of idolatry and sexual immorality that was attached with those those two go uh those two religions in particular and so Ahab was a terrible King and it's funny because he says about elij and he says about mcka these two prophets prominent prophets in Northern Israel said they never prophesy good about me but only evil well that's because ahab's always doing evil and so he set against God that's the point but in particular there's a story in First Kings 21 where you may remember the story uh he really wants a Vineyard that's beside his Palace owned by a man named naboth and he offers him fair market value I think he even offers him

a bit more and I'll give you another I'll give you other land instead and naboth goes I can't do this this this land was the inheritance of my fathers from from when we came into the land I can't just sell it like it's it's precious to our family and Jezebel works this whole scheme to murder naboth and just give the vineyard to to Ahab and Elijah comes and confronts him about this and in First Kings 21 starting in verse 25 it says there was never anyone like Ahab Who Sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord okay never a worse King than him he was urged on by Jezebel his wife he behaved in the vest manner by going After idols like the amorites the Lord drove out before Israel so you

remember back in the days of uh you know when God pro promised the land to Abraham he said not yet this is going to happen in 400 plus years because the sins of the amorites are not yet complete and so we fast forward to the days of Moses and Joshua and the Lord says I'm going to drive the amorites and the other nations out from before you because their sins have been filled up right have reached to Heaven I need to remove them from the land I'm giving you the land instead and and so this verse is saying he's behaving like the amorites who are in The Land Before Israel okay so he's saying he's acting in a way that's going to get them kicked out okay he's doing

the same stuff they were were doing before verse 27 when Ahab heard these words those words being Elijah's pronouncement of judgment uh for the sin of murdering naboth Ahab tore his clothes put on sackcloth and fasted he lay in sackcloth and went around sackcloth and went around meekly when and uh which was not unlike him he used to so uh sulk and mope and things like that but verse 28 the word of the Lord came to Elijah and said have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me because he has humbled himself I will not bring this disaster in his day hear this Ahab no one there was never anyone like Ahab Who Sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord but even he on this matter

repented and humbled himself before the Lord and the Lord had a measure of Mercy on him and so one of the judgments that was pronounced was that everyone you and everyone in your family family you're going to die an ignoble death you're going to be eaten by dogs in the field or eaten by uh or eaten by the birds or whatever not having a proper burial and things like that uh like a really a really shameful way for a king to die and because of this humility that he showed here God said tell you what and it says explains this later when Ahab died in battle he received a proper burial but then it it it makes a point of saying the word was fulfilled and that when they cleaned out his chair

Chariot after the battle the dogs licked up the blood that that was washed out of the Chariot so there's like there was a fulfillment of that prophecy still but God had mercy on Ahab to the degree that he gave him an honorable King's burial when he when he died in battle it may not sound like Mai still died you know early but God had a measure of Mercy on him when even he humbled himself King Ahab God was willing to show Mercy even to King Ahab here's the next one king manasse who is a king of of Southern Judah of the Southern Kingdom which was Judah and this one really strikes me because Manasseh was the son of one of the best Kings in judah's history King

Hezekiah if you remember King Hezekiah is the one who was ruling when the Assyrians came and took Northern Israel captive and they came against Juda and they taunted the people of Jerusalem and said don't listen to your king he's going to get you all killed no one can stand against the Assyrians we're the greatest not even your God can save you and Hezekiah put their threat out before the Lord and said you know God this is about you what are you going to do about this and it the word tells us God slayed 185,000 Assyrians in one night and they turned and went the other way so Hezekiah saw God do incredible things on behalf of Judah and you know this is Manasseh who you know manasse is his son

uh coming up um but towards the end of hezekiah's life probably what Manasseh more saw a little bit more Manasseh got a little maybe a little arrogant maybe a little complacent a little proud so anyways Manasseh comes on the scene he steps steps into the throne and he becomes the worst King in judah's history he led the nation in rebellion in such a way that was unseen before and actually I'm going to read you uh a passage from this is 2 Kings 21 and it's almost like it's got to be read to be believed is is how significant manasseh's rebellion was against the Lord so from 2 Kings 21 uh verse two he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the

Despicable practices of the Nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel so again referencing the amorites like it did with Ahab Manasseh rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed and he erected altars for Baal and made asholes just like King Ahab had done of Israel had done and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them so now he's adding in he's worshiping the Son and the moon and the stars and so on so note this Hezekiah had brought reforms in his day he had tore down a whole bunch of altars and high places and all sorts of stuff and manasse comes along and rebuilds them he undo all the good that his father had

done in that way verse four he built altars in the house of the Lord in the temple he built altars to other gods for all the host of Heaven in the inner and outer courts of the house of the Lord and he burned his own son as an offering okay so he got involved in he sacrificed his own son in an act of demon worship he used fortune telling and Omens and dealt with mediums and necrom answers he's doing all the Witchcraft stuff that God had said don't do it he did much evil in the sight of the Lord provoking him to anger and the carved image of ashra that he had made he set in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son in this house and

in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel I will put my name forever so catch this the the writer is being very clear here he's putting an Ashera Pole in the very house where God said my name is in this house it's like he's saying this is my house and Manassa is bringing an ashle into his house okay and going on from verse 7 there the Lord had said I will put my name here forever and I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers if they will be careful to do according to all that I've commanded them so it's it's CED in that Covenant here saying manasse is doing the opposite of what God had

said if you do what I say I'll let you stay in the land so it's not by accident that they're referencing this he's doing all the things that will get you kicked out of the land okay but verse n they did not listen and manasse led them astray to do more evil than the Nations had done whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel catch that he did more evil than the amorites and jebusites and canites all the ites that were in the land before he gave the land to Israel with with Joshua manasse did more evil than all those Nations and the Lord destroyed those Nations and drove them out of the land it's important to hear that manasse did worse than those people

okay verse 10 the Lord said by his servants the prophets because Manasseh has committed these Abominations and done these things more evil than all the amorites did who were before him and he's made Judah sin also with his idols therefore thus says the Lord the god of Israel behold I am bringing judgment on Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle and I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plum line of the House of Ahab Okay so so what that's saying is remember what remember what I did with the house of Ahab which was he ended the house of Ahab and remember what I did with Samaria and Samaria by this time

had gone into captivity to Assyria and the Assyrians had taken a lot of the people of Northern Israel and spread them throughout the Assyrian Empire and they brought other peoples that they had conquered and brought them into Samaria and mixed them all in there so basically God's saying the same way I dealt with Samaria and the house of Ahab I'm going to deal with you and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish wiping it and turning it upside down so just you're going to be out of here and I will forsake the remnant of my Heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies and they will become a prey and a spoil to their enemies because of the evil they've done

in my sight and they've provoked me to anger since they came out of Egypt even to this day and verse 16 moreover manasse shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other and it's believed that part of that Bloodshed was the prophet Isaiah and it's also believed from a reference in Hebrews 11 that he killed him by sawing him and two um very much Bloodshed innocent Bloodshed the prophet Isaiah one of the you know one of our favorite prophets this manasse killed him okay so manasse is just doing all sorts sorts of evil the worst evil in the you know in the history of the land worse than the people who lived there before Israel that's what manasse is

doing okay so this is like the worst of the worst of the Kings but I want you to catch this this passage is from 2 Chronicles 33 starting in verse 10 it says how you know the Lord had been telling manasse warning Manassa and the people but they paid no attention so verse 11 therefore the Lord brought upon them the commander of the army of the king of Assyria okay so Hezekiah under Hezekiah the Lord pushed back the Assyrians now under Manasseh they come right in and the Assyrians captured manasse with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon like he's getting LED away like a slave okay ultimate humiliation he is destroyed as a king

verse 12 when he was in distress in captivity he intreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the god of his fathers he prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom so get this in captivity manasse completely humbles himself before God like I don't I can't imagine what that looked like knowing the depths of evil that he had led them into what was his repentance like I don't know but it was sincere because God was moved by his prayer and not only got him released from captivity but restored to the throne like I can't think of other times where that happens where you know so

many times a foreign Nation comes in takes over that King is is deposed and you know they set up a new King in his place this manasse somehow got restored to the throne and then get this then manasse knew that the Lord was God and I'm going to read you some things here that you know it reminds me of John the Baptist phrase to the Pharisees who warned you guys to come you know to the saying to the Pharisees and they said this bear fruits in keeping with repentance like don't just repent by your words show it in your life right well here's here's how Manasseh changed instead of giving Judah all sorts of idolatry and immorality and leading them into sin here's what he

focused on now afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David West of the guon of gon in the valley and for the entrance into the fish gate and carried around oel so basically he's saying now he's focused on building up Jerusalem and defending and protecting the city rather than than leading the city into leading the city astray he raised it to a very great height he put commanders of the Army in all the Fortified cities in Judah and he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and he threw them outside of the city he's undoing all the garbage he brought in

that's repentance he's not just repenting with his words he's proving it by his actions he's throwing out out all the other gods he also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of Peace offerings and of Thanksgiving and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the god of Israel so catch this the worst King in in judah's history the one who led Israel or LED Judah so far astray that God said that's it judgment is determined for you I've told you over and over again if you don't do what I command I'm going to remove you from the land manasse crossed that line and yet even he even that King when he humbled himself before God God had mercy on him and restored

him that's how much God loves showing Mercy the worst King in judah's history God had mercy on him and then the third one I want to say King Josiah so this is manasseh's grandson okay he became king at the age of eight his father had been an evil king for a couple years so like Josiah doesn't know what it looks like to have a Godly example he was so young you know he would have been like before the age of five when manasse as at the end of his Reign and when he had turned so Josiah King at8 years old at the age of 16 it says he begins to seek the Lord so of his you know the Lord Drew him it's not that he's following someone else's example he starts pursuing the Lord at

the age of 20 he begins to destroy all the high places the ashon poles the altars and Idols he even does this you know 2 Chronicles 34 if you read there he even goes up into the territory of Northern Israel so again they had been conquered by Assyria scattered and so on but he goes into that territory into Ephraim it says goes all the way as far north as Neftali which was way to the north he's going throughout all that territory as well all the land that God had promised them he's purging all that land of the idols and the altars he is zealous for the Lord okay and then it says in the 18th year of his Reign he ordered the temple to be repaired okay so he's uh he's been making these

changes he's been zealously getting rid of the foreign gods and so on now he's saying now we need to clean up the temple and get worship going again and in the process of cleaning the temple they find the book of the law which had been hidden for a long time and they read the K the law to the king to Josiah and it says in verse 19 so 2 Chronicles 34:19 when the king heard the words of the law he tore his clothes he goes oh no we have done the opposite of all that and then verse 21 he tells the attendants there go inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and Judah right concerning the words of the book that has been found for great is the Wrath of the Lord that

is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord so he knows the law said to do this and we've done the opposite and then it also said if we do the opposite here's all the bad stuff that's going to happen so Josiah goes we are in line for judgment he recognizes it he doesn't you know poo poo it or oh it can't be that bad like no he realizes we're in trouble and then so they go and inquire of a propheus in the land and verse 24 here's the answer she says thus says the Lord behold I will bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah okay everything you

read it is going to happen he by no means clearing the guilty right like this has to be done verse 25 because they've forsaken me they've made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands therefore my wrath will be poured out and will not be quenched but to the king of Judah regarding the words you have heard because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard this word his words against this place and you humbled yourself before me and you've torn your clothes and you've wept before me I've heard you declares the Lord and behold I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your Graven peace

and your eyes will not see the disaster so here's the point here even though the people of Judah had crossed a line and God said it's gonna happen judgment's going to come even though that was you know it's said and done it's gonna happen he still gives opportunity he still gave opportunity for kings and people to repent and turn and Josiah had a repentant heart he turned to the Lord with all his heart he was faithful to the Lord all his days and the Lord had mercy on them and here's my sense is that if the success if the successive Generations had kept the same posture he would have kept showing Mercy because in other places to the to Ezekiel and others he has said

you know you will die in your own sins like it's this thing of I'm going to hold you you accountable for what you do if you're righteous if you're upright if you're repentant and humble before me I will have mercy on you even though this disaster is decreed he was still willing to show Mercy it's kind of like Abraham in Genesis I want to say 19 when the Lord comes to him and says you know it's the Lord and two angels and they they have this chat with Abraham here's what's going to happen to Sodom because of all the sin and Abraham has that discussion okay but what if there's 50 people will you have mercy he says yeah I'll have mercy for the sake of 50 and it comes he gets the number

all the way down it's like he negotiates with God down to five I think the number was if there's five righteous people will you spare the city and the Lord says yeah I'll spare a whole city for the sake of five righteous people the problem is there weren't five righteous people and we can think you know the world Humanity we can think God how could you be so harsh to Sodom but you're like we're missing the point here is that we don't understand the the capacity of the human heart to sin we don't just we don't understand how desperately wicked we are and we don't understand how kind God is that he would spare an entire city for the sake of five people I think that's incredible Grace

and that's what I wanted to pull out from those three kings there is look at those stories look at how terrible some of those kings were or look at this is beyond you know the decree has been made judgment is coming and then we have Josiah who comes and has a repentant heart before God and in every case all three of those cases God had mercy even in the case of the worst kings in Israel and judah's history God showed mercy and I want to just quickly touch on this thing there's four times that this phrase who knows shows up in the Bible all in the Old Testament actually and each time it's making a point that God is so merciful and gracious it's worth trying it's worth

asking because he's so good he just might turn the whole thing around even when it looks completely hopeless okay so here are the the examples number one 2 Samuel 12:22 um it's the child that was conceived through David and bath sheba's adultery um that child God says that you know said through the prophet that child can't live um it will defame my name all sorts of stuff for whatever reason he's like this child's gonna pass and David still fasted and prayed and wept for that child thinking here's the state the statement who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live David was even though J David was suffering the consequences of his sin he

still said I'm still going to ask because what I know of him is he's so good and gracious again he wrote Psalm 145 the Lord is gracious and compassionate slow to anger abounding in love he wrote that he's so good I'm still gonna ask and when when the child did die David wasn't offended or mad at God he just carried on he said I was I was giv it a shot because he's so good he just might have done something different the second one Mori to Esther the story of Esther this is a passage that you know a lot of people are really familiar with right morai pleaded with Esther to illegally stand before the king and intercede on behalf of her people the Jewish people and he said

this Esther 4:14 if you keep silent at this time relief and deliverance will come from another place but you and your father's house may not be spared you will perish and he says this who knows whether this is the reason right who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this who knows like this may be the very plan of God that he wants to show Mercy through you we got to try that's the idea Joel to Joel is just finished prophesying again kind of like we talked about um in the aftermath of Manasseh he's prophesied judgment is coming it may even be the exact same season and period that that we talked about here that judgment is coming because of sin verse

12 yet even now declares the Lord he's just said this Army is coming an army is coming yet even now declares the Lord return to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping with mourning Rend your hearts and not your garments return to the Lord for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love he relents over disaster here it is who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God Joel's saying he's again gracious and merciful slow to anger he relents over disaster who knows he's saying he's so good he may not only turn from disaster but leave a blessing instead he's that good

so let's press into even though he's just said this Army is coming let's press in because he's so good he just might turn the whole thing around and then the last one Jonah Jonah begrudgingly preached to Nineveh well it's funny it says he only he only declared disasters coming it doesn't say that he told them you know but if you repent God might be merciful he just declared disaster but the king of the Assyrians heard it he responded with repentance and called on the entire city and this is funny to me even animals he called them on them to fast and cry out to God he told them don't eat don't drink and don't even let your animals eat and drink like we're all

fasting and repenting here and here's the the the verse John 3 or Jonah 3 verse 8 uh verse eight let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands who knows God May turn and relent and turn from his Fierce anger so that many we many may not per or that we may not perish and when God saw what they did how they turned from their evil way God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them and he did not do it now Generations later Assyria would be take uh would be destroyed by Babylon but in that generation in that time they repented they turned to the Lord Gentiles an evil nation that did not know God they humbled themselves and

God relented of the disaster there's four things there where it says this thing of who knows and it's in the context of God is so good who knows what will happen if we pray and if we humble ourselves and if we turn to him he's so good and he Delights in showing mercy so here's what what I'm trying to say with all this in conclusion what do we do if we get a government we don't want if we have a government we don't want that we think is against God right that we perceive is against God God is gracious he's slow to anger he's abounding in steadfast love he relents from sending disaster he Delights in showing Mercy even if disaster has been decreed he still gives

ample time for people to repent so that he can show Mercy okay even if our preferred party is Not Elected even if our government were to take a blatant stand against righteousness even if they were to make evil the law of the land and in some cases we have we never stop praying for them he will show Mercy even to the worst kings if they will turn to him and my point is this as long as we have breath in our lungs and as long as they have breath in their lungs there is a chance that he will show Mercy he will relent from harm and leave a blessing instead that is why we always pray and never lose heart he is so good he Delights in showing Mercy until he returns it's not over we keep praying we

may you know we we pray that we would see God show Mercy that our leaders would turn humble themselves and pray and seek his face and that he would come and show Mercy instead of disaster we know what happens when Nations persist in unrighteousness for too long but even if we reached a point where disaster was decreed even if we got there we see it in Josiah's case we see it in nineveh's case even if we get to that point we keep praying for Mercy cuz he just might show it so that is why we ought to always pray for our government and never lose heart okay so I want to bless you keep standing on the wall keep engaging with government as we've as we've looked at

over the weeks past but never lose sight we are citizens of another kingdom the king of that kingdom is good he abounding in love he's slow to anger he Delights in showing mercy and we keep praying for the welfare for the Peace of the city and Country we live in so that it'll go well with us and because we'd love to see him show Mercy okay bless you thanks for joining us on this series keep praying keep engaging God bless you [Music]