Personal Responsibility

"do not pray"

Jeremiah 7:16

Jeremiah 11:14

Jeremiah 14:11

Wow.  Did you ever think you'd see those words in the Bible?   We're studying Jeremiah in my church, chapter by chapter.  I've read a lot of Jeremiah, but I don't think I've ever read it all the way through, and I haven't really studied it before, so I'm learning a lot about the Israelites of that time, and about people today;  about what God was asking of Jeremiah, and about what God asks of me; and about God Himself. 

It's a difficult book to read, in that the tone is down.  After all, Jeremiah has been nicknamed The Weeping Prophet.  This is not a book about kittens and rainbows and butterflies.  Although really, is there any book like that?  Maybe just the creation chapters in Genesis...

The point is, God called Jeremiah to preach to a nation who would not listen.  How's that for a hard task?  So it shouldn't be surprising that Jeremiah was sometimes discouraged. 

Take heart from that.  It's okay to be discouraged in what God has called you to do.  Persevere.

But let's go back to these words, from three different places in Jeremiah.  In all three cases, it is God talking.  Here are the verses in their entirety:

"do not pray for this people, 

nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, 

not make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you."

Jeremiah 7:16

"do not pray for this people, 

or lift up a cry or prayer for them; 

for I will not heal them 

in the time that they cry out to Me 

because of their trouble" 

Jeremiah 11:14

"do not pray for this people, for their good"

Jeremiah 14:11

I mean to tell ya, I was astounded when I read these verses.   Was God really telling Jeremiah not to pray for His people?  Why would God tell anyone not to pray!  And especially, why would God tell anyone not to pray for others?  I think intercessory prayers are so precious to God, because they are almost always unselfish prayers.  Why would God not hear prayer?

But the truth is, God was not really telling Jeremiah not to pray, but that Jeremiah's prayers on behalf of the people, on this issue, would not be answered by God.  They were not going to be delivered from the consequences of their sins.

And the reason, was the condition of their hearts. 

The reason, was the insincerity of their own prayers.

Jeremiah 7:9-10 speaks to this.  God challenged them, saying, "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say 'we are delivered to do all these abominations'?"

As long as they were rejecting God; as long as they were mocking His covenant with them, their own prayers would not gain an answer.  God was telling Jeremiah that his prayers for them would be just as ineffectual. 

So.  Does that scare you?  Should it scare us?  I sure don't like the feel of it, I'll tell you that.  But I'm pretty sure there have been times when I have asked someone to pray for me, but I haven't prayed for myself.  And I'm pretty sure there have been times when someone who loves me has been praying for me, while I've been digging in my heels and remaining stubbornly disobedient. 

I think this circumstance with Jeremiah is unusual.  It's the only time in Scripture that I can find God telling someone not to pray.  But it's far from the only time Scripture talks about having a sincere heart, and putting your feet to your faith.  If I'm not doing my best to live a life that reflects Him as my Savior, then the prayers of another might not be enough.

We need to pray.  Pray for ourselves and for others.  Ceaselessly and with fervor.  Because what might happen if we don't, is enough to make us weep.

~ "Seek the Lord while He may be found,

    call upon Him while He is near" ~

Isaiah 55:6