“Thus God returned the evil of Abimelek, which he committed against his father in killing his 70 brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their hands, and upon them came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerub-Baal.”
– Judges 9:56–57
What a story of evil as you look at the context here in Judges 9:56–57 in both Abimelek and the men of Shechem. But the reason I read these two verses and I want to lead us to pray according to them is because both in the end receive justice from God for their evil actions. In this battle of evil justice is ultimately served. In this we see the perfect justice of God in ways that we don’t always see in the moment. This is all over scripture. There are times it seems like injustice is prevailing. There are times when it seems like evil is prevailing, advancing, even prospering. Yet God in His word reminds us over and over and over again, He is just, and His justice will be served. Evil will not have the last word.
God Will Triumph Over Evil
God in His word reminds us over and over again, He is just, and His justice will be served. Evil will not have the last word.
This is both humbling and encouraging. It’s humbling because in our own sinful hearts we are evil. We have sinned against God. If justice was the only part of our story before God, then we would all be in hell right now. We don’t want our evil to have the last word, and we praise God for His design in our salvation that in no way compromises or limits or negates His justice. God is just Romans 3 says in one of the greatest paragraphs in all the Bible, verse 21 through 26. He is just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Let’s just go ahead and start praying. God we praise You. Yes oh yes God has chosen in His mercy and His love to pour out the justice we deserve in our sin upon His Son on a cross, that we might be saved from our sin, saved from the just judgment we deserve to experience God’s mercy forever. Yes, this is humbling and it’s encouraging. That we know when we face evil in our lives, when we see evil around us in the world, that we can know it will not ultimately have the last word. God will have the last word and He is completely just.
Judges 9:56–57 Prays for God’s Perfect Judgement
So we pray, God we exalt You today for Your justice based on Judges 9:56–57 is one picture of so many in Your word. We praise You for Your perfect justice. All Your ways Deuteronomy says are justice. Not just just they are justice. You are right and righteous and good and just in all that You do oh God, is Your very nature to be Justin. We worship You for Your justice from cover to cover in the Bible.
God, we praise You for in Your grace and Your mercy designing a way for us to be saved from the just judgment we deserve, to experience Your mercy and Your love and Your eternal life through Jesus. All glory be to your name, Jesus, for taking our just payment for our sins upon Yourself on a cross that we might have life, that we might have communion with You right now. So God we look at the world around us and we praise You for the confidence and the hope we have that evil will not have the last word, that Your justice will reign. We pray God that You would help us to make this good news of Your justice and Your mercy known all over the world.
So God, we pray today for 38 plus million Persian speaking men and women and boys and girls in Iran. God all of them who don’t know Your grace and Your mercy in Jesus are under Your judgment in their sin. God, we pray that You would cause the gospel to go forward.
Judges 9:56–57 Praises God’s Work in the Church
So God, we praise You for what you have done and are doing amidst the church in Iran. God, we pray that You’d bless the church there for the spread of the gospel there. So God, we pray that more and more and more Iranians might come to know Your grace and Your love in Jesus. God, I think about one who is even in our church family just this last week, who walked away saying, “I don’t know if I can believe in a love like that, in a love that great.” That’s what he was saying.
So God, may You open his eyes to know that there is a love that great. There is a mercy that great. That it’s found in You, that it’s found in Jesus. God, we pray for the exaltation of Jesus among Iranians. We pray for the exaltation of Jesus in the world, the just and merciful savior of the nations. God, we pray for the exaltation of Jesus through our lives. We love You Lord and we praise You for Your justice and Your mercy, according to Judges 9:56–57. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
