I can’t hear you…
It’s been a hot minute since my last Jeremiah project entry. That can be in part attributed to spending time in study of other portions of God’s Word. There is simply not enough time to plumb the depths of God’s Word, to either study it, nor apply it to daily life. But God is gracious.
It’s actually study of Isaiah that brings me back to Jeremiah 15 today. Isn’t it remarkable how God’s Word, being living and active, weaves its ways through different aspects of our lives and our thinking? Recently, I am have been puzzled and perplexed by this verse from the first chapter of Isaiah.
“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood”
With so many instructions in Scripture about prayer, making supplication, asking the Lord, how is it that God says He will not listen to the prayer of Isaiah or His people? Reading the book of Jeremiah allows us to understand that this is not in anyway an isolated principle about God willfully not responding to prayer and petitions. Let’s look at a few examples:
Jeremiah 11:14 Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.
Jeremiah 14:11-12 The LORD said to me: ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though the offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
And now we find ourselves in the first verse of Jeremiah 15, right after Jeremiah lifts up a prayer to God’s people, despite being told that his prayers would not be heard. Take a look, first, at Jeremiah’s prayer.
Jer. 14:20-22 We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us for your name’s sake; Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, o LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.
What a prayer, right? It encompasses a humble posture, corporate confession, and an appeal to God’s glory. Check out what Philip Ryken says of this prayer in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah.
“Chapter 14 ended with a powerful prayer on behalf of God’s people. The prayer was flawless. Jeremiah made full confession for all of the sins of the nation. He pleaded for God’s mercy for the sake of God’s glory. He affirmed that only God can answer prayer. It was the best of prayers, offered from the purest of motives.”
So, with this prayer, the opening verse of Jeremiah 15 shows us God’s unfolding response to Jeremiah’s prayer. It’s not that God not hear Jeremiah, because He obviously did. Chapter 15 is a continuation of a conversation with Jeremiah, and we’ll see that God did hear Jeremiah and responds with clarity that He will NOT be responding to Jeremiah’s prayer in terms of sending rain, extending forgiveness, or staving off His divine judgement. But, as a point of application, God not listening does not mean He does not hear. Not answering how or when we ask him to is His sovereign prerogative. This is important as we see Jeremiah persisting in prayer even though God made it clear that He would not be responding to the substance of the prayers from either the prophet nor the people. I would humbly offer that persisting in offering prayers that God does not answer might be part of His grace in using our prayer to get us to listen to Him and not simply expecting God to listen to us.
Let’s look at verse 1:
“Then the LORD said to me, ‘Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!”
There is so much that could have gone through Jeremiah’s mind in hearing this response from the Lord. Perhaps he thought, ‘Oh good, it’s not just my inadequate prayer life…not even Moses or Samuel could have changed God’s mind on this one.
Why does God use Moses and Samuel as examples here? Well, simply because Scripture shows us that these men were used as effective mediators between God and His people. It would have been easy to think that God had heard from these men based on their own merits, yet it seems that God is letting Jeremiah know that this is not the cases. Surely, based on the merits of Moses and Samuel, God would relent in destroying Israel, right? Yet God says quite the contrary. That must have been quite the relief for Jeremiah. Yep, it’s not me. It’s that these people really are that bad.
But here it seems God is wanting to teach Jeremiah, and us, and important lesson. Skip ahead to verses 19 & 20 of this same chapter:
“Therefore thus says the LORD: If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declare the LORD. ”
What we are seeing here is God telling Jeremiah himself to repent and return his focus to the Lord. This instruction comes with some conditional blessings. IF you return, I will restore. IF you utter my words, you shall be my mouthpiece. IF you remain resolute, I will make you like a fortified wall.
Again, there are many things we can understand about God not hearing prayers for salvation or restoration of an unrepentant people, but here, the point I see God making is about the insufficiency of the imperfect men who imperfectly mediated on behalf of their people. Moses and Aaron would have fallen short. Jeremiah is told not to pray, and then is told to return to the Lord. All of this points to the reality that only 1 mediator is sufficient to turn away the wrath of God the Father.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
So in summary, prayers for God to turn away His wrath are effective only in and by Christ Jesus. This Jesus turned away the wrath of God by bearing the full weight of it on behalf of those for whom He is the mediator. Praise God His prayers have not done unheard, or answered. They have been and are being effective in making us recipients of God’s mercy, instead of recipients of His wrath.