February 15, Jeremiah 14
”Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.” Thus says the LORD concerning this people: “They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.” - Jeremiah 14:9-10
Terror has a way of humbling us. A toddler breaks free from his mother’s grasp and runs, until he gets hurt or scared. Then the little guy runs back to Momma and cries to be picked up and comforted.
I’ve seen grownups on airplanes get quite prayerful when turbulence rocked the plane and made even veteran travelers nervous. As a nation we were more openly prayerful in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The terrorist attacks that day exposed our vulnerability. We saw national leaders not known for their godly lives bowing in prayer at prayer services televised on all the networks.
Judah’s idolatry and rebellion against God had gone on for centuries. God had been patient, but Judah’s time was up. The Lord sent the deadly trio of sword, famine and pestilence against his unrepentant people.
The first part of Jeremiah 14 is about a devastating drought that threatened the nation. The gates of the city (the busiest public gathering places) were deserted. Thirsty masters sent their thirsty slaves out to find water, but neither the senders nor the seekers got water for their thirst. No vegetation could grow in the parched soil. Farmers couldn’t grow any crops, and wild animals couldn’t find any water to sustain themselves.
I’d like to think that the prayers in this chapter were the prayers of those people as they forsook their idols and returned to God. But the second section seems instead to be Jeremiah’s desperate prayer to God for relief from the famine. He freely confessed the nation’s sins, expressed their hope in God alone and begged the LORD to show them mercy. Jeremiah tried again, claiming that the false prophets had led the people astray. Out in the countryside, bodies of those killed by the invading enemy were scattered across the fields. In the city, the corpses of those who had perished in the famine were everywhere. So Jeremiah cried out again, even though God had told him not to pray for these unrepentant people. He claimed no merit for the sinful people, but begged again for God to honor the glory of his own name. He admitted that God was their only hope, and that the idols the nation had worshiped were worthless and helpless. Jeremiah pleaded again with God to not break his covenant, but Israel had already broken it over and over. Jeremiah implored the LORD not to dishonor his own holy name by letting them perish. They needed rain, and none of the false gods the Israelites worshiped could help them.
Despite Jeremiah’s fervent prayers, God declared the doom of the stubborn idolaters. God replied that both the false prophets and priests as well as those they led astray would be punished. He promised destruction on the people who had forsaken and embraced the false gods.
If Israel had lived like Jeremiah prayed, the calamity and death would not have happened. They wanted to keep their identification and protection as God’s covenant people, but they refused to live like the covenant people of a holy God.
The prayers are good models of penitent prayers, but there was no accompanying change of heart and life. So God told Jeremiah to stop praying for them. It was already too late. Those desperate words that acknowledged the people’s sin and need and expressed their dependence on God should characterize our thinking and praying at all times. God is our only hope, not just on the darkest day, but on all our days. We, like famished Israel, are completely dependent on him. We cannot sustain ourselves, provide for ourselves or find our own way to God. When we humble ourselves and submit, he will hear and answer our prayers. But we dare not wait until it is too late to listen and respond.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—February 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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