Intercession and Supplication
(No. 2745)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1901.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
27, 1879.
"Are You not He, O Lord our God? Therefore we will wait for You"
Jeremiah 14:22.
THIS is an instance of amazing yet holy boldness. The Prophet had
received from the Lord the explicit command, "Pray not for this people:
for their good," and yet, after reasoning with God, his heart grew so
warm with sacred fervor and his spirit became fired with such a
passionate zeal that he could not help pleading for the sinful nation!
He poured out his soul in the vehement prayer and said to the Lord, "We
will wait upon You." This was, perhaps, disobedience in the outward
form, but it was not disobedience as to the inner spirit of the
Prophet, for the Lord counts not as disobedience the earnest pleading
and yearning of the heart of His people. This is a marvelous instance
of how, under the most discouraging circumstances–when there appears
no prospect whatever of success–men who are moved of God to pray for
their fellows, will cling to His garments and still intercede on behalf
of those who are altogether unworthy of their supplications.
One of the reasons why Jeremiah resolved that he would still wait upon
God was because the case was such an urgent one. The land was chapped
through the long drought. The poor beasts were dying of thirst. Men and
women were pale and pinched with hunger and there was no one who could
deliver them out of their distress. The heavens could not pour down
rain of themselves and the gods of the heathen could not render any
help, so Jeremiah says, "Therefore we will wait upon You. It is our
only hope and though it seems to be a forlorn one, yet, since it is the
only one we have, we will cling to it with desperate resolve."
There are two things which appear to me to be strikingly illustrated by
our text and its connection. The first is the beauty of an
intercessor–and I want you to so admire it as to imitate the
intercession. And the second is the necessity which drives men to
God–and I want you to feel the necessity which drives you to wait upon
the Lord. May God the Holy Spirit make you feel it!
I. First, I want you to see the beauty of a true intercessor and to
endeavor, by the power of God's Spirit, to IMITATE THE INTERCESSION.
Jeremiah interceded for the people, but we have not to seek far before
we discover the reason why he did it. God, in Infinite Mercy, gave the
weeping Prophet to his sinful people in order that they might not be
left as sheep without a shepherd and be quite given over to utter
destruction. And wherever you meet with a man who intercedes with God
for his fellow men and makes this the main business of his life, you
see in him one of the most precious gifts of God's Grace to the age in
which he lives. It is God that writes intercession upon men's hearts.
All true prayer comes from Him, but especially that least selfish and
most Christ-like form of prayer called intercession–when the suppliant
forgets all about himself and his own needs–and all his pleading, his
tears and his arguments are on behalf of others. I repeat that such men
are a most precious gift from Heaven and I feel certain that before the
Reformation, there must have been hundreds of godly men and women who
were, day and night, interceding with the Lord and giving Him no rest
until He answered their supplications–and Luther and the rest of the
Reformers were sent by God in answer to the many prayers which history
has never recorded, but which are written in the Lord's Book of
Remembrance.
And when Wesley and Whitefield, in more modern times, stirred the
smoldering embers of religion in this land, it was because godly
people, perhaps poor obscure men and women in their cottages, reading
the Scriptures, saw the sad state of irreligion and indifference into
which the nation had fallen–and groaned over it and spread the case
before God. I know not how to estimate the worth of even one man who
has power with God in prayer! When John Knox went upstairs to plead for
Scotland, it was the greatest event in Scottish history. All things are
possible with the man who, like Elijah upon Carmel, casts himself down
upon the earth and puts his face between his knees, and cries unto Him
that hears prayer, till the heavens, which were like brass, suddenly
drop with plenteous showers of rain! There is no power like that of
intercession! The secret springs that move the puppets of earth–for
kings and princes are often little more than that–are the prayers of
God's believing people. The hidden wheels that start the whole
machinery and that keep it in motion, are the prayers of God's people.
Oh, if the Lord makes you an intercessor, my dear Brother or Sister,
even if you cannot speak with men for God, if you know how to speak
with God for men, you occupy a position that is second to none. God
help you to fill it well!
True intercessors, then, are special gifts from God and when He raises
up men or women for this high service, you will find that such persons
plead with mighty arguments. You must have noticed, as we read the
chapter, [Exposition at the end of the sermon was always before the
sermon.] that Jeremiah knew well what he was praying about. He had, in
his mind's eye, all those nobles of the land who were reduced to such
poverty that they sent their children out to hunt for water. His
prophetical eye could even see the hinds in the field leaving their
fawns to die because there was no grass for them to eat, and no water
for them to drink. Jeremiah had upon his heart all the agony of the
nation and he prayed as if his were the thirst, and as if he were
perishing of hunger! He took the burden of the guilty people upon
himself and became their mouthpiece to God, although they did not thank
him for pleading for them, but smote him, and despitefully used him.
Yet he took all their griefs into his own sympathetic heart and he
pleaded mightily with God while he had all that great burden resting
upon his spirit.
I want you to notice how he pleads. First, he pleads God's name.
"Lord," he says, "these people are called Jehovah's people and though
they deserve nothing but condemnation at Your hands, yet, if You do not
bless them, the heathen will say, 'Jehovah forsakes His people! This is
what comes of being the chosen nation–and so Your great name will be
dishonored in the earth.'" And then Jeremiah uses a very strong
expression–for using which, I understand, a minister has recently been
called to account and I do not wonder at that, for, if it had not been
Inspired, it would have been too strong an utterance from the mouth of
any man–"Do not disgrace the Throne of Your Glory." That Throne of
God's Glory was the Mercy Seat–and if it could be carried away to
Babylon, the heathen would rejoice, and the daughters of the
uncircumcised would triumph! And thus the Throne of God's Glory would
be disgraced. Jeremiah rightly felt that this was a strong argument, so
he urged it in pleading with the Lord, "Do not let Your Glory be
tarnished, do interpose to prevent such a calamity."
As the strongest argument of all, he pleads the Covenant–and that is
always a masterly argument with the Lord. Turn to the 21st verse.
"Remember, do no break Your Covenant with us." God had entered into a
Covenant with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob, and with
David–and though the sin of the people might well be conceived to have
made the Covenant null and void, and though they certainly did not
deserve that He should keep His Covenant with them, yet Jeremiah felt
emboldened to say, "Do not Break Your Covenant with us." Depend upon
it, God is never a Covenant-breaking God–and no plea has greater
weight with Him than "the Covenant, the Covenant." O Brothers and
Sisters, if God has made us intercessors, let us come with holy
boldness to the Throne of Grace and let us plead for our nation, and
for our age, and for our kinsfolk, that God would bless them! And let
this be our chief argument–for the honor of Your holy name, for the
glory of Your Throne and for the sake of the Covenant which You have
made with our great Surety, forsake not those whom You have chosen,
however undeserving they have proved to be!
Notice next that when a man has his heart set upon this blessed work of
intercession, it makes him quick to seize every advantage that he can
when he is pleading with God. Jeremiah argued thus with God, "Lord, You
said to me, 'Pray not for this people for their good,' but it is the
false prophets who have deceived them, so, O Lord, pity the poor
people. They are misled. The priests have led them astray. They are
poor silly sheep that have followed the shepherds that deceived them.
Therefore, O Lord, have pity on them and spare them."
I like that sacred ingenuity on the part of Jeremiah, leading him to
catch at such a plea as that and to urge it before God. That is
something like Abraham did when he, too, had a desperate case in
hand–the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is only these great
intercessors who can take up such cases as these. There he stands to
plead for Sodom and Gomorrah! Mark the holy boldness which he uses
before God. "Lord," he said, "perhaps there are 50 righteous within the
city. Perhaps there are 45 righteous there. Perhaps there are 40
righteous there," and so on, till he said, "Perhaps there are 10
righteous there–will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?"
That was fine pleading and God yielded to it, for He would have spared
the city for the sake of 10 righteous people if they could have been
found. And if you know how to plead with God, you will rake up
everything which may, in any degree, count on the behalf of the people,
even as your Master did, for, when He could say nothing else in favor
of His murderers, he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." Even their ignorance He turned into some kind of plea,
and in His wondrous mercy used it in praying to His Father. May we all
learn how to plead for sinners like that!
True intercessors resemble Jeremiah in another respect–they will not
be turned aside from their pleading. If they meet with rebuffs and no
answer seems to come to their supplications, they plead on! It is a
wondrous sight, to see a mother–a true, tender, gracious
mother–pleading with God for her son. She began pleading for him while
yet he lay in the cradle, or before that. She cried to God for him when
he was learning to walk with tottering footsteps. She followed him with
her prayers through the devious ways of his boyhood and youth–and also
when he went away from home and left her to sorrow over him. Parental
restraint was gone, even maternal love was rejected as he roamed over a
great part of the world. He has grown into a bronzed man, now–his face
is tanned with the scorching sun of the equator and he has come
home–but his mother's prayers have followed or accompanied him
wherever he has gone!
She has persevered in pleading with God for him. True, he has been a
Sabbath-breaker, and a swearer, and the very sound of his voice has
terrified the dear old soul when she has heard him say hard things
against the God of Israel. But you should hear her pray when she is
alone! She cannot say, "Lord, save my son, for there is in him some
good thing towards You." But she cries, "O You that are mighty to save,
I cannot let You go until You save my poor sinful boy! Have You not
said, 'Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you
shall glorify Me'? Lord, I am in sore trouble about my son! I beseech
You to have pity upon him and save him. Did you not listen to the
Syrophenician woman when she prayed for her child? Oh, hear me as I
pray for mine!"
Ah, I cannot put it as pathetically as she does, for there is a
wondrous sacred ingenuity in the true mother's heart that makes her
plead with peculiar power for her child even when he has grown to
manhood. I hope you know what I mean because this is what you have
done. When, under great discouragements, seeing those who are the
subjects of your supplication going from bad to worse–when you see
them get hardened and apparently incorrigible, and invulnerable–when
even the arrows of the Word of God do not seem to touch them or pierce
them–still persevere in prayer! And I will say what some may think a
very strong thing–even if you should have reason to fear that they
have committed the sin which is unto death–you remember how John puts
it, "I do not say that he shall pray for it." But he does not say that
you are not to do so–therefore take advantage of the negative and pray
on! Yes, even until their souls have passed beyond the reach of
change–into the unseen world–pursue them with your persistent
intercession! And it may be that you shall yet have your heart's desire
concerning them, notwithstanding the fact that, as yet, everything
seems to tend in the contrary direction.
Now, dear Friends, let me say that if any of us shall ever learn how to
offer such prayer as this–if we shall ever be able to intercede with
God in this manner–we shall become imitators of our blessed Lord
Jesus, Himself for He was, on earth, preeminently the Intercessor. If
you could have seen Him coming forth in the morning to preach the
Gospel and to heal the sick, you might have noticed how His garments
were covered with the dew which had fallen upon Him as He had knelt all
night in prayer to God. He could often truly say, "My head is filled
with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night," for He had spent
the whole night upon the lone mountainside agonizing for the souls of
those He loved. That sorrowful lament of His–"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you that kill the Prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how
often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen
gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not"–was only a
flash of the fire that always burnt within His heart.
The tears that fell from our Savior's eyes as He wept over Jerusalem,
dropped from a cloud that always rested on His soul which was always
filled with a deep sympathetic compassion even for those who had
despised and rejected Him. And
now, today, my Brothers and Sisters, though He has put off the seamless
garment that He wore on earth and has put on His royal, priestly
vesture white as snow, He still wears the golden belt that John saw in
the Revelation. The eyes of faith may see Him up there with no care
upon His brow, no spittle upon His cheeks, no scourges for His back,
but standing amidst the harps of angels and the songs of seraphs,
before His Father's Throne as our great Intercessor still, for He
always lives to make intercession for us, so that–
"For all that come to God by Him"– there may be eternal and certain
salvation! Oh, if we could only hear Him pray! Of course, there cannot
be tears and cries such as became Gethsemane and its humiliation, but
there is as much earnestness in Your cry, O blessed Lover of sinners,
in the midst of Your Glory as there was in the depths of Your shame!
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, learn from your Lord and Savior
how to be mighty in intercession! I give you this blessed work to do,
all of you who truly know and love Him. As I have said before, you may
not all be able to speak to men for God, but you can all speak with God
for men. This morning [Sermon #1471, Volume 25–CONCEALING THE WORDS OF
GOD] I told you how to use one hand for battle by not concealing the
words of the Holy One–now here is the way to use the other hand for
battle by drawing near to God in powerful, prevalent intercession! With
these two hands uplifted, this Church, like Joshua, shall utterly
destroy Amalek, and the sun and moon shall stand still while it is
being done! And so long as Moses prays, and Aaron and Hur hold up his
hands, the victory must surely come!
II. Now I want your very earnest attention to the second and, perhaps,
the more important portion of my discourse, in which I am going to urge
you to FEEL THE NECESSITY WHICH DRIVES YOU TO GOD.
Tried Believer, here is a lesson for you. Have you come to a very
difficult place? Are you in very sore trouble–such trouble as you
never knew before? Then wait upon the Lord and if at first He does not
answer you and it seems as if the very gates of Heaven are shut against
you, still continue to wait upon the Lord. Where else can you go if you
turn away from Him? You are shut up to this one course, so do not seek
any other way out of your difficulty. Take that blasphemous letter of
Sennacherib and spread it before the Lord, as Hezekiah did. Take that
bitter grief and tell it all in His ears. To whom or where should you
go if you should turn from Him? Therefore cling to Him and though He
slays you, still trust in Him, for you have nobody else to whom you can
trust!
But I want, mainly, to speak to the sinner. Perhaps I am addressing
some who, by the Holy Spirit's teaching, have become aware of their
danger and who, therefore, are longing to find eternal salvation, but
they are afraid they never shall be able to do so. My dear Friend, go
and wait upon God and ask Him to save you. Present your case before
Him, now, and plead with Him to have mercy upon you–and then show that
your supplication is genuine by accepting the salvation which He sets
before you in Christ Jesus for all who believe in His name.
In order to urge you to wait upon God, I would just say these few
things. First, you will perish unless God hears you. You say that you
have prayed to the Lord for a month and yet you have received no
answer. Well, even though that is the case, forsake not the posts of
His doors, for there is no other door at which you can knock with any
hope of success! Perhaps you say, "I have tried to believe in Jesus,
but I cannot." I will not correct your mistake this time, but I will
say this–remember that if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, there is
no one else in whom you can believe in order to be saved, "for there is
none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."
It is Christ or nothing! It is faith in Christ or eternal destruction!
It is laying hold upon Jesus Christ or else banishment forever from the
Presence of Jehovah's Glory. You are brought to this pass, that God
must save you, or you are damned forever! God Himself must save you, or
you are a lost man! You are shut up to that alternative, so, being shut
up to it, say to the Lord, with all your heart, "Therefore will I wait
upon You."
Now, think, what else can you do? If you want to be saved, what can you
rely upon but the Grace of God in Jesus Christ? Your past life avails
not Would you dare to lean upon that broken reed? If you are
self-righteous and reckon yourself to be among the best of mankind, or
think that you have done no great wrong, well, then, I do not know that
I have any Gospel to preach to you, for our Lord Jesus Himself said,
"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are
sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." But
if the Lord has been dealing with you by His Holy Spirit and convincing
you of your real condition in His sight, I know that you can perceive
such flaws in your past life–such black sins–so many of them–such
departures of heart from God–that you dare no more trust
your soul's salvation upon your past action than you would trust
yourself over the mouth of a pit swinging by a spider's web! You know
better than to do such a thing as that–your past life is so deeply
stained with sin that you know you must be washed from it in the
precious blood of Jesus, or, otherwise, you must certainly perish!
No, your past life cannot avail for your salvation. And suppose it is
suggested that you should trust your future resolves–will they save
you? If you make a good resolution, tonight, as strong as you can
possibly make it–will that give you a good ground of hope? No, my dear
Friends, you know it will not, for you have made very strong
resolutions before and they have all been in vain. You have bound the
Samson within you with new ropes and I know not what besides, but he
has gone outside and shaken himself, and burst your bonds, and once
again you have seen that the strong man has not been overcome. I would
give nothing at all for the resolutions that you make in your own
strength–they do but increase your sins because they are simply
further specimens of your presumptuous self-confidence! But, my dear
Friend, you know better, do you not, than to trust to your own
resolutions? You really wish to be saved and you know in your heart
that it would only be a mockery if you were to rely upon your own
principles, resolutions and things of that sort. Why, in yourself, you
are as weak as water! Have you not proved, by painful experiments again
and again, that in you, that is, in your flesh, there dwells no good
thing? Come, then–escape from that refuge of lies and go to
Jesus–wait upon God because you cannot go anywhere else for salvation!
There is no salvation to be obtained from priests, or forms and
ceremonies. There is a gentleman over there who beckons you to come to
him. I know him well–Mr. Priest-Craft is his name. He says that he has
power to ease men of their burdens, that by some charmed incantation he
can give them absolution. "Hi! Presto!" He mutters his formula and away
goes the sin–and the sinner is as white as snow! Oh, yes! I know all
about his tricks. I have seen quacks in the street selling their
medicine to fools and so, doubtless, there are fools that rely upon the
word of quacks in churches, cathedrals, and the like! But "none of them
can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him."
Of all the monstrous lies which show the impossibility of human
civilization giving common sense, not to say religion, to men, one of
the grossest is this lie of pretended priestly power! I charge you, go
not to that man! He will take your money, but he will leave you worse
off than you were before.
There is forgiveness–there is mercy–to be obtained from God through
Jesus Christ. But He has not given to any man the power to forgive
sins. He says to me, and to all His servants, that we may proclaim
forgiveness of sins to those who repent, and we do so, and God will
prove that the proclamation is true. But, if sinners look to us, or to
priests, or to any mortal men to find forgiveness in them, they will
look in vain! Turn not there, I implore you! Take your eyes off the
priests of Rome and the priests of Baal! Look to Christ alone, and say,
"I will wait upon God. I can do no other if I would find salvation." Do
as the poor monk did who, after living a life of asceticism, at last
came to die. In his cell he had found a copy of the Scriptures, which
he had read to such good purpose that, when the so-called "sacraments"
were brought to him, he waved them aside and was heard to say, "Tua
vulnera, Jesu! Tua vulnera, Jesu!"–"Your wounds, Jesus! Your wounds,
Jesus!" Ah, that is the remedy for human sin and there is no other!
"Therefore we will wait upon You, O Lord! If there were some other
fountain of Grace, we might, perhaps, leave You to go and seek it, but
we know that there is none. These priests are of no use to us. We have
been to those broken cisterns and found no Water of Life there.
Therefore we will come to You, by Your Grace." O come, Brothers and
Sisters, and wait thus upon the Lord!
All of you must know that there is no salvation anywhere but in Christ
Jesus, but, suppose any of you were to say, "Yes, I know that. Neither
will I seek salvation anywhere else, but I will brave the matter out. I
will never yield to God! I will take my chances." Ah, but can you do as
you say? And if you could, what would be the good of it? There will
come a time when that strong frame of yours will be as weak as a rush,
and then you will talk very differently. I, too, have known what
physical vigor and strength mean, but it is not many weeks ago that I
knew what it was to be more trembling than an infant! I seemed to feel
as if life were not worth the having, so great was my pain of body and
heaviness of heart. And such times may come to you big burly men–and
you strong-minded women may feel the same–and then you will begin to
tremble. As great Caesar, when the fit was on him, whined like a sick
child–so many of your braggadocios are the very men who tremble most
when they come to die!
Ah, and when God, the Judge of All, lays hold of you in the world to
come, though your bones were iron and your sinews brass, you will
tremble in every joint! Belshazzar only saw the "fingers of a man's
hand" that wrote upon the wall of his palace, in letters of fire, "You
are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting" and, though he knew
not the
meaning of the mystic characters, "the king's countenance was changed,
and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were
loosed, and his knees smote one against another." There he sat, a
shivering coward–but what will he do who sees God's hand, by-and-by,
not writing on the wall, but lifted up to deal a blow that shall break
Him in pieces, as the potter's vessels are broken with a rod of iron?
"Now consider this, you that forget God," He says, "lest I tear you in
pieces, and there be none to deliver." Those are not my words. I dare
not say such terrible things on my own account! They are the warning
words of the God of Love! And if Infinite Love speaks like that, you
ought to give heed to what is said! There is a weight of emphasis about
this message that my voice cannot convey. Let me utter it again, with
sorrowful and heartfelt earnestness, imploring you never to run the
risk of knowing what these dreadful words means. "Consider this, you
that forget God"–not merely you that blaspheme, but you that forget
Him and do not think of Him–"Consider this, you that forget God, lest
I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver." God grant that you
may not try to fight it out with Him, for you cannot do so, it is
impossible!–
"You sinners, seek His Grace, Whose wrath you cannot bear! Fly to the
shelter of His Cross, And find salvation there."
"But," someone says, "I do not believe in any future state." Well,
Friend, suppose it should happen to be as you wish–have you any
advantage over me even then? Suppose, that, after all, there should be
no future state? I am as well off as you are. If there should be no
Hell and no Heaven, I am as well off as you are. But if there isa
future state. If there is a Hell and there isa Heaven, where will you
be then? Remember that to disbelieve is not the same thing as to
disprove– and I, for one, feel certain that as surely as you live,
there isa future state and there is a God who will judge you! And your
unbelief cannot postpone the dread assize.
The ostrich hides his head in the sand–I know the simile is trite, but
I can think of no better one just now–and when he sees not the hunter,
he persuades himself that he has escaped from danger. But do you
imagine that because you refuse to believe the Scriptures, that they
will be altered to please you? That can never be! But if you will not
believe, I suppose you must go on sinning until you find out the Truth
of God and have to cry, in the agony of despair, "Now it is
too late!"
The Lord grant that it may not be so. But, because it is true,
therefore wait upon God, now, for there is no hope anywhere else.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JEREMIAH14.
In some respects, Jeremiah is one of the greatest of the ancient
Prophets, for he had a most sorrowful task to perform. He had not to
deliver a message full of Evangelical comfort, like that of Isaiah, nor
had he gorgeous visions of coming kingdoms, as Ezekiel had. He was the
Cassandra of his age. Jeremiah spoke the Truths of God, yet few
believed him. His life was spent in sighing over a wicked people who
rejected and despised him. He bore a heavy burden upon his heart and
tears continually wet his cheeks, so that he was rightly called "the
weeping Prophet." This chapter gives us an illustration of the style in
which he used to pray.
Verse 1. The Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the
droughts. There had been no rain, so the crops had failed and there was
a famine in the land. Jeremiah describes that famine in striking poetic
imagery.
2-6. Judah mourns and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto
the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have
sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits and found
no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and
confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is parched, for
there was no rain in the earth, theplowmen were ashamed, they covered
their heads. Yes, the hindalso calvedin the field, and forsook it,
because there was no grass. And the wild asses did stand in the high
places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail,
because there was no grass. The distress in the land was so great that
the city gates where, in more prosperous times, business transactions
took place, and meetings of the people were held, were deserted. There
was nothing that could be done while the nation was in such sorrow–and
a great cry of agony went up from the capital of
the country–"The cry of Jerusalem is gone up." The highest in the land
sent their children to hunt even for a little water to drink. They went
to the cisterns where some water might have been expected to remain,
but they found none–"they returned with their vessels empty; they were
as ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads." The covering of
the head was the sign of sorrow. You remember how, in the day of his
distress, "David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he
went up, and had his head covered." "And all the people that were with
him covered, every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went
up." The ground had been reduced, by the drought, to such a state of
hardness that it was useless to plow it, for there was no hope of any
harvest coming. Even the wild creatures of the field shared the general
suffering. The hind, which is reckoned by the Orientals to be the
fondest of its young, forsook its fawn and left it to perish because
there was no food. And the wild asses, which are able to endure thirst
better than other creatures can and are always quick to perceive water
if there is any to be found, tried in vain to scent it anywhere. "They
snuffed up the wind like dragons"–like cobras, or serpents, or
jackals, as the word may be variously rendered–but they snuffed in
vain and their eyes became like coals in their head. They "did fail,
because there was no grass." What then? Why, the Prophet turns to
prayer as the only means of obtaining relief!
7. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your
name's sake. ' 'You cannot do it because of any merit of ours."
7-9. For our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You. O the
Hope of Israel, the Savior thereof in time of trouble, why should You
be as a stranger in the land and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to
tarry for a night? Why should You be as a man astonished, as a mighty
man that cannot save? Yet You O LORD, are in the midst of us and we are
called by Your name; leave us not Can you not almost hear the good man
praying? Notice how he begs the Lord not to be to the land like a mere
stranger who passes through it and cares nothing far it. "Why should
You be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns
aside to tarry for a night?" Then he pleads with the Lord, "Why should
You be as a strong man, but stunned?"–for that is the meaning of the
expression he uses–"Be not You as a mighty man astounded or stunned,
who cannot save us; let it not be thought or said that we have come to
such a pass that even You cannot help us." This was grand pleading on
the Prophet's part, and he followed it up by mentioning the close
connection that existed between Israel and God. Yet You, O Jehovah, are
in the midst of us, and we are called by Your name." And then he
pleaded, "leave us not." It was a grand prayer, yet, at first, this was
the only answer that Jeremiah received to it.
10, 11. Thus says the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to
wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD does not
accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
"You may pray, if you like, for a plague to come upon them as a
chastisement for their sins, but do not pray for any blessing for
them."
12. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer
burnt offering and an oblation I will not accept them: but it will
consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
After being long provoked, God at last determines that He will punish
the rebellious nation and He seems, as it were, to put Jeremiah aside.
"Now the day of My vengeance has come, and I will show no more mercy to
them." Now note what Jeremiah does even after the Lord has said to him,
"Pray not for this people for their good."
13. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say unto them, You
shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give
you assured peace in this place. He says, "Lord, have pity on the
people, for they are misled by their prophets! Perhaps if these false
prophets had not thus deceived them and puffed them up, they would not
have been so hardened in their sin." He tried to make some excuse for
them, but the Lord would not yield to his pleading.
14. 15. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in My
name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke
unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a
thing of nothing, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus says
the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in My name, andI sent
them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land. By
sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. God says, "Yes, I
will deal with the false prophets. It is true that they have misled the
people and I will punish them for their deception, but I will not
excuse the people even on that ground."
16. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the
streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they
shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor
their daughters: for I will pour their
wickedness upon them. That seems to be a hard answer to Jeremiah's
pleading–what is the Prophet to do now? God gives him another message
to deliver to the people–
17, 18. Therefore you shall say this word unto them; Let my eyes run
down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin
daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very
grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, then behold! the slain
with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then behold them that are
sick with famine! Yes, both the prophet and the priest go about into a
land that they know not So God told Jeremiah that he might go and tell
the people that he would weep continually for them. The faithful and
sympathetic Prophet was to be allowed constantly to shed tears on their
behalf and to feel great distress of soul because he saw signs
everywhere of the heavy hand of God resting upon the guilty people. If
they went outside the city, the Chaldeans slew them with the sword. And
if they stayed inside, they perished by famine! Or those that died not
were carried away captive into a land that they knew not. What is
Jeremiah to do in such a case as this? He is told that he must not pray
for the people, and God seems determined to smite them. What can love
do when even the gates of prayer are ordered to be closed? Notice how,
after he is told that he must not pray, he edges his way up towards the
Throne of Grace and, at last, he does what he is told not to do. He
begins thus–
19. Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why
have You smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for
peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold
trouble! That is not exactly praying, but it is very like it. Jeremiah
is asking the Lord whether He can really have cast off His people.
20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our
fathers: for we have sinned against You. He has now advanced a step
farther, to the confession of sin. If that is not really prayer, it
always goes with it. It is the background of prayer, so we shall soon
have some other touches in the picture.
21. Do not abhor us for Your name's sake, do not disgrace the Throne of
Your Glory: remember, break not Your Covenant with us. Now he is
actually getting to praying. He cannot help himself. He is told that he
must not pray, but he feels that he must–he loves the people so much
that he must plead for them.
22. Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause
rain! Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God?
Therefore we will wait for You: for You have made all these things. O
splendid perseverance of importunity–strong resolve of a forbidden
intercession! "You, O Lord our God, tell us not to pray, but we cannot
restrain our supplication–'Therefore we will wait for You.'" God help
us all to wait for Him! We are not so discouraged from praying as he
was who spoke these words, so there is still more reason why we should
say to the Lord, "Therefore we will wait for You."