Teach us to pray-12

God has provide numerous examples of prayers, requirements for prayers, and warnings of prayers. He also consistently reminded us that He doesn’t listen to the prayers of the unrighteous, ungodly. In Jeremiah, God was warning the people of Judah of His pouring out His wrath on them for the disobedience and idolatry. He warned Jeremiah not to pray for them.

Jeremiah 7:16  "As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. 

He told Jeremiah He would not hear his intercession for them as well. God repeatedly had to tell Jeremiah not to intercede in prayer.

Jeremiah 11:11  Therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold I am bringing disaster on them which they will not be able to escape; though they will cry to Me, yet I will not listen to them. 

Jeremiah 11:12  "Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they surely will not save them in the time of their disaster. 11:13  "For your gods are as many as your cities, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to the shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. 11:14  "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster. 

Jeremiah 14:11  So the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 14:12  "When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence." 

Ungodly, unrighteous, disobedient people will not be heard by God even as they cry out to God. God will not be mocked by sinners crying out to Him as He pours out His wrath upon them. They aren’t repenting, they only want His wrath to stop. This is a warning for all of us as well.

So does this mean we are not to pray for the unsaved sinners in our lives? No, but there comes a time when God’s judgment will be executed on the sinners who will not repent. The people of Judah constantly asked Jeremiah to ask them what God required of them and constantly disregarded his warnings. When we don’t like what God is telling us how we should live, we are acting just like these people who wanted to escape the ‘wrath’ of Nebuchadnezzar, who God calls His servant.

Jeremiah 42:1  Then all the commanders of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people both small and great approached 42:2  and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our petition come before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, 42:3  that the LORD your God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do." 

Once again they asked Jeremiah to pray for them. Why didn’t they pray for themselves? Clearly, they didn’t know God as they were idolators. They only would obey God if they gave them the answer they wanted.

Jeremiah 42:4  Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the LORD will answer you. I will not keep back a word from you." 42:5  Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us. 42:6  "Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God." 

They will listen and obey but only if it fits their evil plans. This is often how people pray today. They want God to accommodate them but don’t want to obey God. We know what God has commanded us to do in His Word. Yet, people don’t want to obey, they just want God’s blessings.

Jeremiah 42:8  Then he called for Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him, and for all the people both small and great, 42:9  and said to them, "Thus says the LORD the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 

42:10  'If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down, and I will plant you and not uproot you; for I will relent concerning the calamity that I have inflicted on you. 

42:11  'Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you are now fearing; do not be afraid of him,' declares the LORD, 'for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand. 42:12  'I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil. 

42:13  'But if you are going to say, "We will not stay in this land," so as not to listen to the voice of the LORD your God, 42:14  saying, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the sound of a trumpet or hunger for bread, and we will stay there"; 42:15  then in that case listen to the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "If you really set your mind to enter Egypt and go in to reside there, 42:16  then the sword, which you are afraid of, will overtake you there in the land of Egypt; and the famine, about which you are anxious, will follow closely after you there in Egypt, and you will die there. 42:17  "So all the men who set their mind to go to Egypt to reside there will die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence; and they will have no survivors or refugees from the calamity that I am going to bring on them."'" 

God was very clear as He set before them the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. He has provided us today with the same choices. How did they respond to God’s response to the prayer of Jeremiah?

Jeremiah 43:1  But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God—that is, all these words— 

43:2  Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are telling a lie! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You are not to enter Egypt to reside there'; 43:3  but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon." 

43:4  So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the LORD to stay in the land of Judah. 

It seems impossible to believe in their disobedience. How could they ask Jeremiah for God’s words to them and then clearly disobey them? Jeremiah’s prayers for them will not save them. No one’s prayers for you will save you either if you continue in disobedience. Prayers don’t erase sin. Repentance and obedience are always required to please God and enter into a relationship with God.

More next Saturday.