And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.
– 2 Kings 15:3–4
This is not an uncommon refrain in stories of even good Kings in the book of first and second Kings, how some, not a lot of them, but some of these Kings did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. So that’s a good description of what we all want in our lives, right? To do what is right in the eyes of God. And then there’s this word nevertheless, but the high places were not taken away. In other words, he didn’t do all that God had called him to do. And the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, which was not what God had decreed, was not according to the word of the Lord, was not what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
God, help us to obey you all the way in every way you call us to.
And so as we hear this refrain in first and second Kings at different points, let’s pray that God would help us to do all that he is calling us to do. Let’s even pause today in the light of 2 Kings 15:3–4. Would you just pause in your life and ask God to show you areas of your life where you are still holding back in obedience to him, maybe you’re doing what is right in his eyes in so many ways and yet in these other ways, or this other way over here, you are not. Or I am not. God help us. We pray. We want to obey you in every way. God, we want to love you with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength.
2 Kings 15:3–4 Leads Us to Pray for Help Obeying God
We don’t want there to be a nevertheless or a but in our lives. We didn’t love you in this way or we didn’t obey you in that way. God help us to obey you all the way, all the way in every way you call us to. God that you would show us even now as we pray in your spirit, an area of our life, areas, or even just an area of our life, where we are not obeying you, where we are not doing all that you are calling us to do, or we are holding back.
Even as we finished this prayer in a moment, that you would continue to convict our hearts about this, and you would help us by your grace to repent, to turn from a lack of obedience in these areas and our lives and to follow you fully. Oh God, even as we pray so often on this podcast, we confess, we know we have not obeyed your command to make disciples of all the nations.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
We pray for the Levantine people of Syria today. For Sunni Muslims, among whom there are no known followers of Jesus. You’ve commanded us to make disciples of all the nations and there are 7,000 groups of people like the Levantine who don’t know your grace and your love.
God, forgive us, help us to obey your great commission, help us to make the gospel known among all the nations and to live in full obedience to all of your commands. May it not be said of us that we did what was right in your eyes. Nevertheless, we held back. Nevertheless, we disobeyed in this way. God help us to do all that you are calling us to do and not to stop short. We don’t want there to be a nevertheless or a but they didn’t do this at the end of our lives when it comes to obedience to you and worship of you. God, we pray this 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.
