Thursday: A Desperate Situation
Read Jeremiah 14:1-10. What is happening here?
Drought struck all of the land; every city, town, and village suffered. The poor and the rich suffered together. Not even the wildlife could bear the lack of water. The aristocrats waited for their servants at the city gates, hoping they had found water, but the springs had dried up.
Image © David Sorensen from GoodSalt.com
There was no water, and without water, life could not continue. Their misery grew from day to day. The people put on mourning clothes, and walked with their eyes downcast. Then they would suddenly kneel and cry out in desperate prayer.
At the time of such a natural catastrophe, it was the custom to visit the temple in Jerusalem (Joel 1:13-14; Joel 2:15-17) to fast and to make special offerings to God.
Jeremiah saw the eagerness of the people, but he knew well that they didn’t seek the Lord, only the water. This saddened the prophet further. Jeremiah was also praying, not for water, but for the mercy and presence of God.
Jeremiah understood, too, that this was only the beginning of the trials to come. God saw the hearts of the people and knew that if He were to remove the drought, then the repentance would also disappear. The people did everything to try to change their situation, including going to Jerusalem, praying, fasting, putting on sackcloth, and making offerings, but they forgot one thing: true conversion, true repentance. They were looking only to remove the results of the problem, not the problem itself, which was their sin and disobedience.
Read Jeremiah 14:11-16. How do we understand this?
Do not pray for this people, for their good,
God told Jeremiah, even though Jeremiah earlier presented a great example of intercessory prayer: O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake
(Jer. 14:7, NKJV). Though we are told to pray without ceasing
(1 Thess. 5:17), in this case the Lord, who knows everything from beginning to end, is revealing to Jeremiah just how corrupt and fallen these people are. Of course, God knows people’s hearts, and God knows the future; we don’t. Hence, the New Testament admonition to pray, even for our enemies, doesn’t lose any of its force here.
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As scientists understand it life does not exist where there is no water. Surely it is understandable that the dwellers in Judah should earnestly seek water during a drought (Jeremiah 14:1-6). Still they missed the need which was more urgent. They lacked the water of life which would be a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:14).
Jehovah tried to communicate to the wayward and wandering people that physical life and well-being is of transient value and benefit if not supported by spiritual life and well-being (Jeremiah 14:10). If mankind has great health and adequate access to all the physical support structures and amenities of this world, only to die in a few years (Psalm 90:10), without hope beyond, is that the sum of life? (Mark 8:36).
In times of desperation, such as serious illness many believers may turn to the Great Physician (Jeremiah 8:22) expecting physical healing. However it is important to understand that if there is no intent to use the restored health to honor God the prayer request makes little difference. God simply does what He would do anyway (without prayer) to advance His overall will, even if physical restoration happened to be a part of it.
Those who seek healing ought also to have a desire to corporate with God in preserving health and using health for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). And the All-Wise One cannot be deceived (Jeremiah 14:11-12). It makes sense to choose abundant life first (John 10:10) and then seek for the temporal necessities, if they are not already provided (Matthew 6:33).
Hugh you are always on top of what's going on with our congregation. We as a people are far from God we are not doing His will in any way. We do not obey Him or His word in act or in deed and we don't study the Bible like we should. I don't know how we can reach our people and say "pay attention time is short, get your stuff together! Read añd understand Bible prophecy."
How marvellous, how wonderful, right at the end of Jeremiah 10:14 we find this golden nugget, this glimpse of the true character of God and how He deals with us ever so kindly, righteously, and sets us an example of how to deal with this problem of sin - love the sinner, hate the sin. He separates sin from the person; in the same way, we should separate sin/behaviour from the person; hate the sin/behaviour but love the person. How profoundly restorative, how else could we love our enemies but this way? Thank you Lord! And again in Jeremiah 14:11-16, how marvellous, how wonderful, we see the danger of placating God's people, of saying what people want to hear instead of having the courage to speak the truth; the need to press into God in the knowledge that as we seek him earnestly, we shall find him, that as we know him more, the more we realise our own sin; oh Lord my God, my chief complaint is that my love is weak and faint....People of God, seek God, seek truth and His righteousness, have courage and speak the truth in love. Amen
As we look at today we are still doing the same things as they did back in the time of Jeremiah, we need to seek God earnestly and stop playing church, give everything over to the Lord and not only go to him when we are in trouble, but seek the Lord with everything, dying to self each day, and humble ourselves and we will see the works of the Lord our God.
Getting the message out to others should be our focus and in doing so we will see the Spirit work through each of us.
The effort to start a revival from the outside will always fail and has always failed. We don't ask God to heal us because we want an outward blessing as the children of Judah did. Let's seek the inner water, the water of life, and then all will follow. True repentance is brought by the Holy Spirit.
I have a question:
Jeremiah 14:11,12
11 Then the Lord said to me, n“Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 oWhen they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”
When people are beyond repentance, when they are not seeking for true repentance, then its pointless to pray for them. Are there ways we can discern cases where we should not pray for certain folk? Or should we just intercede in prayer leaving the case with God to work out His will for them since only He can read the heart? I mean the lesson author also says this: 'Jeremiah saw the eagerness of the people, but he knew well that they didn’t seek the Lord, only the water. This saddened the prophet further. Jeremiah was also praying, not for water, but for the mercy and presence of God.' Clearly Jeremiah was able to discern if I am following what the author is saying here correctly.
Christ prayed for those who were crucifying him (Luke 23:34). Stephen prayed for those who were stoning him to death (Acts 7:59-60). We can’t presume to know who is beyond repentance. Samuel considered it a sin not to pray for disobedient others (1 Samuel 12:23). Indeed, our intercessory prayers may unlock the unrepentant heart so the Holy Spirit can enter and bring repentance (John 16:8).
"by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence”
These are code words that refer back to Lev 26, in terms of the covenant there are blessings and curses. When the people rebel against Jehovah he sends worse and worse plagues to wake them up so they will turn back to them and if they still don't listen the last one is exile.
How familiar, the Israelites to me and maybe most of Christians today, when in trouble we eagerly pray desparetely to God, but do we really have true conversion or its just become customary? Do we look for his presence only when there is some problems? Only to go back to our own ways soon after. I felt my heart sinking in pain thinking of this ,how many times I have asked for forgiveness only to repeat the erring again. We know that though our sins be as scarlet he will wash them. But today's lesson has showed us there is a limit. We can't keep going back to the old life and expect no consequences. God help me to remove the problem, not results of the problem, only by your strength and Mercy am I able.
God reaches out in ways that will bring sense to the senseless, who are blinded by selfishness and sin. We depend on HIM for every gift that sustains life, and Israel should know best the lesson being taught. God had given them this warning through Moses (Deut 28:15, 23,24) as well as during the time of Elijah.
In the latter passage for Thursday, God reveals His perfect knowledge concerning those who have passed the point of no return. We can NEVER reach this conclusion about anyone unless God brings it to us Himself. But concerning this erring nation that Jeremiah was sent to warn, how would we think of those given the message to save a world, who not only ignored their calling, but rejected the message themselves? What would you think of the fire department when calling for help as your house was burning with your children trapped inside, but the fire department was too busy with their annual fund-raising picnic at the beach?
We cannot lose sight of our mandate from our Risen LORD.
We are to pray for all. God opened up salvation to all. Who are we to judge who to pray for and not to pray for. The seperation of the chaff from the wheat is Christ job not ours. We pray for all, good and bad, till we die or Christ comes. We pray, then step aside and let the Holy Spirit do the work. The Son of God came so that all could understand the truth of God. We should take Paul's advice and pray without ceasing. Because only God knows who has committed the fatal sin. We are in no position to judge. You would not cease praying for your daughter, why quit praying for others who have chosen the wrong path.