Wednesday May 20, 2015

Read Jeremiah 15

I remember talking to an atheist who confided in me that he refused to believe in God because God didn’t answer his prayer. Sadly, he prayed for healing for a relative with cancer and that person died soon after. Sometimes we call out to God and either hear nothing or get a very stern response. We need to realise that God is not the cuddly soft grandpa on the porch we like Him to be. God is not the soft easy pushover we think of Him. God not a vending machine into which we can insert our prayer coins and get whatever we desire.

As we have seen, Jeremiah been crying out to God and pleading for the people. God’s response is harsh – even if the Old Testament giants Moses or Samuel were to pray, He wouldn’t hear. In fact, some will still go to death. Others will still be killed by the sword. Others will still starve to death and still others will go into captivity.

In vs 10 the tone and content changes somewhat. Jeremiah laments for himself before the Lord. God answers in vs 11 telling Jeremiah that God has good purposes for him and will bring him out of times of disaster and trouble. Then in vs 15-18 Jeremiah again cries out before the Lord about his situation. The Lord answers in again somewhat harshly in vs 19-21.

19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“If you repent, I will restore you

that you may serve me;

if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,

you will be my spokesman.

Let this people turn to you,

but you must not turn to them.

20 I will make you a wall to this people,

a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you

but will not overcome you,

for I am with you

to rescue and save you,”

declares the Lord.

21 “I will save you from the hands of the wicked

and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.”

There’s a great principle to learn and to take on board. Interceding for people is hard and exhausting work. There is no guarantee that God will bring immediate relief. God’s thoughts are higher than ours. His ways are beyond our ways. It’s a word of warning to the health, wealth and prosperity preachers who promise immediate relief from all pain and suffering. Feel free to send me hundreds of dollars in a plain envelope and we can test if their theory works or not.

Stamina in ministry and service, especially in the area of intercession, comes not from finding alternatives and cures to exhaustion. The key is to pour out our hearts to the Lord and to listen intently to His reply.

Jeremiah is promised in vs 19-21 that God would be his restorer. God would make Jeremiah a fortified wall of bronze and as the people fight against him, God would ensure victory for Jeremiah, not for the people. But notice that it began with the need for Jeremiah to repent. If he utters worthy, not worthless words, then God would work through him.

What’s God saying to us in these apparently harsh words? Maybe we do need to repent! But from what? The worthless words we’ve spoken, perhaps. The temptation to preach easy theology? The temptation to think that God will bring quick and easy relief? The temptation to make promises of healing and restoration that God may not have given? When we pray and intercede, we need to remember that God is Lord and that He can do whatever He pleases. He is not a prayer vending machine that gives us what we demand once we’ve put in our prayer coins.

Prayer Points:

Using today’s Bible passage and reading notes spend time in adoration, confession, thanks and supplication.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Spend time interceding for your church, your state, your nation and your world.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Given all you’re read and studied this week, discuss theology good ways to intercede for the following

A young mum dying of cancer in the local hospital.

A town ravaged by a long term drought.

A teenager feeling depressed and suicidal.