Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty? And why do those who know Him never see His days?
– Job 24:1
This question that Job is asking is familiar to all of us when we look around at evil in the world and wonder why God does not judge it at that moment. Why does He not stop this from happening at that moment? Or why does He not bring his justice now? Why is it waiting for God’s justice to come in the future?
Job 24:1 reminds us that God has been patient with us.
And yet when we ask that question, we start to realize how thankful we are that God has been patient with us, that God did not judge our sin immediately, that God has been merciful to you and to me.
I think about my life. God has been so patient with me. And this is what 2 Peter 3:9 says, that God is patient with creation, with men and women who have turned from him toward all kinds of evil and sin and injustice. God is not wanting them to perish, but is longing for them to come to eternal life. And I praise God for his love for me and pushing past my sin and my evil, and forgiving me for drawing me to himself, for not giving me the instant justice I deserved, the ultimate judgment I deserved. Praise Jesus for saving me, for saving you, for everyone who’s in Christ. Praise God for his mercy and his patience toward us.
Job 24:1 teaches us to thank God for his mercy.
And so, when we look at evil and injustice around us, let’s pray for God to draw people to himself. In his mercy, that God would save sinners, that God would save the people who are doing evil around us, even as we patiently wait for his justice ultimately to come. Oh God, we praise you for your justice and your mercy, and for your timing and your wisdom, and for your patient love for sinners. God, we praise you for your patient love for us. For those of us who are in Jesus right now, we praise you that we’re in Jesus, that we were not given over to our sin, that we have been saved by you from our sin. By your patient love and mercy toward us, we have new life. We have eternal life. We’ve been spared the judgment we deserve.
Jesus, we praise you for taking the judgment we deserve upon yourself on the cross, for rising from the dead. We praise you for the gospel. We praise you for your patience and drawing us to yourself through it. And so, God, we pray in a world of evil and injustice. We pray for your mercy. We pray for your mercy on all the people around us today who don’t know you. Help us to share the good news of your love for them today, that they might be saved from the judgment do their sin.
Prayer for the Mandaean People
God, give us an urgency today, we pray, to share the gospel today. And an urgency to share the gospel with people who’ve never even heard it, who’ve not rejected it. They’ve never even heard it. Oh God, for the Mandaean people of Iran and Iraq, and many who’ve moved even specifically to Australia.
God, we pray for the spread of the gospel among the Mandaean people. You long for their repentance. God, please cause the gospel to spread to them through the church in Iran, the church in Iraq and the church in Australia, that the Mandaean people would be reached with the good news of your mercy. Oh God, we pray this with ultimate trust in your justice and your mercy, in your wisdom and your timing, and in praise of your patient love towards sinners. In Jesus’ name we pray according to Job 24:1. 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.
