PLEASE PRAY FOR US

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Zedekiah, son of Josiah, was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal, son of Shelemiah, with the priest Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”

Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.

Jeremiah 37:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Jeremiah 36, we looked at how the word of God was rejected by Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, who burned the scroll containing all the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah as transcribed by Baruch.

As Chapter 37 opens, we leap ahead in time. There is no mention of Jehoiakim outside of the fact that his son, Jehoiachin, had followed him in assuming the throne over Judah, at least until the Babylonians had conquered Jerusalem and King Nebuchadnezzar put his own vassal king, Zedekiah, in place.

Note that not much had changed between leaders of Judah for we read where neither Zedekiah nor “his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord has spoken through Jeremiah.”

In other words, no one had any interest in what God had to say.

Yet, despite this, did you pick up on what Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had the nerve to ask Jeremiah to do?

Scripture tells us that the king sent Jehukal with the priest Zephaniah to ask Jeremiah to “Please pray to the Lord our God for us?”

Huh?

So let’s see if we have this right before I go on.

We have a king and a kingdom full of people who have no time to receive the word of God and yet they want a prophet, who brought them the words they chose to ignore, to pray to the God they openly disregard.

Does that make any sense? I mean, that’s just plain crazy, right?

Exactly. For anyone who would choose to completely tune God out has to be crazy and yet so many people through the ages, to include in our present days, are no better than these Old Testament Israelites we’re reading about today. They choose to completely shun God day after day after day, showing no interest in Him, until they get into a little trouble and then all of a sudden, they are asking others to pray for them.

And note that last part. They are asking OTHERS to pray for them.

Why?

Because they have no relationship with God themselves. They chose to turn away and abandon God, remember?

And so they ask others to do what they are unable to do themselves.

It was the case of Zedekiah and his people. It’s the same case today for countless other non-believers.

Here’s the thing. God doesn’t need to listen to prayers, no matter who lifts them up. He is God and He will not stand to be disrespected and disregarded.

In the case of the Israelites in Jeremiah’s time, ask yourself this:

Did the prayers of others keep them from God’s judgment?

Nope. The Babylonians ran roughshod over Judah, leaving it in ruins before hauling God’s people off into 70 years of exile. The Israelites received the full measure of His punishment and no amount of prayer from outsiders was going to save them from it. They had their chance to repent and turn back to God but they rejected the opportunity.

And so God rejected their request for clemency.  As He should have.

Friends, we had better be paying close attention to today’s message as God is speaking a warning to us in powerful form.

We can’t expect to completely dishonor God with the way we live and then expect Him to honor us. Even if others are praying on our behalf.

The Lord expects us to make His will our will, to make His desires our desire, and to respect and accept His word and truth, allowing it to guide our lives.

When we do this, we can expect to live in a way that is pleasing in His sight, a way that garners His blessing and not His penalty, a way that ensures He will listen to and respond to our prayers, whether lifted up by ourselves or others.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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