Don’t Pray for Them! - Jeremiah 7-11

Jeremiah 7:16-20 (ESV)

“As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”

We should read also:

Jeremiah 11:14 (ESV)

“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.

In this section of Jeremiah the prophet is twice told not to pray for his fellow countrymen.   As a prophet he is told not to pray for those who would hear his prophecy.   As a herald in the streets of Jerusalem he was not to ask God to have those who hear him to heed his warnings.   In the New Testament, however, we are told to pray for one another:  

James 5:16 (ESV)

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

1 Timothy 2:1 (ESV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

In the Old and New Testament we are given countless examples of people praying for each other.   Yet, this prophet, Jeremiah, was to NOT pray for others.   This shows us how angry God was about the disobedience of His people.   He was so angry He wanted no intercession for them.   Lacking intercession people will have no hope for their own salvation.  One of the tools God uses to heal the land is through prayer.   Remember what God instructed the people of Israel to do:

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

It is only by prayer that salvation is afforded mankind.   Yet, this group of people were not to be prayed over.  They were simply to be warned about their impending doom.   Disobedience to God puts man in a bad condition.  

Security of Home in the Hurricanes of Life - Job 27-28

Job 27:18 (ESV)

He builds his house like a moth’s,

like a booth that a watchman makes.

Job once again is defending his righteousness in this on-going argument with the three friends who came to comfort him; at least that was their original intent.  Job, in the above verse, is talking about the insecurity of the wicked and their children.   He has painted, thus far, that they have little that last in the world.   In the above verse he writes about how unstable their homes are.  He compares the homes of the wicked (homes they believe will keep them safe) to that of a moth’s home.  Nothing is so easily destroyed than that crafted by the moth.   He also compares it to the booth that the watchman makes.  These were simply a lean-tos built by those who were sent to watch over the fields from those who might steal the crops.   Never meant to be permanent, these quickly built booths were meant only to keep the sun off the backs of the watchmen.   What Job is telling his listens is that wealth can’t protect you, no matter how secure your home is.  He would know this truth better than anyone in this discussion:

 Job 1:18-19 (ESV)

While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

To emphasize the same truth, Jesus said it this way:

Matthew 7:26-27 (ESV)

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Job has lost everything.  He is now left without home and health to defend his righteous integrity.    He wants his friends to know that he, like the wicked, has no home able to withstand the trauma of life.   Yet, in Christ, we have a sure and steadfast hope.  

Hebrews 6:19 (ESV)

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,

When we trust our homes and lands for security we are standing on sand in the midst of the hurricane of life. 

God’s Justice is Just - Ours Is Not! Psalms 39-41

Psalms 40:13-15 (ESV)

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me!

O LORD, make haste to help me!

Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether

who seek to snatch away my life;

let those be turned back and brought to dishonor

who delight in my hurt!

Let those be appalled because of their shame

who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

We are told in the scriptures to not seek vengeance.   Note what Paul told the believers in Rome:

Romans 12:14-21 (ESV)

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

In the above portion of Psalms 40, we read that David is doing some of what Paul stated.  He is turning this person that is against him over to God.   He is not personally seeking vengeance.  He is giving the person that hurt him to His God and allowing God to care for his protection and justice.   This is so hard to do in our lives.  We would rather be the one who carries out the justice.  But we are unjust people.  Therefore even our justice is corrupt.  When we simply pray and allow God to carry out His justice, we can be assured it will be done in perfect holiness.  Justice that is not pure is not real justice.   We are not pure so our justice is not just.   Praying and allowing God to carry out justice is to assure that the justice is pure and holy.  

God Sets Boundaries and Uses Wicked Spirits - 1 Samuel 16-20

1 Samuel 18:10-11 (ESV)

The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

The above verse is the first time this is written.  Here is the second:

1 Samuel 19:9

Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.

We can struggle with this as to why God would use an evil spirit to influence Saul’s demise.   In our struggle to understand the sovereignty of God, these verses seem to show a part of that sovereignty that is confusing.    This recalls what happened to Job, when a wicked men, fire and wind came to destroy all Job owned:

Job 1:15-19 (ESV)

and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

The fact that God works in our lives in such a way can give us pause.  But we can rejoice that God is in control of all things.  He sets the boundaries for all things:

Jeremiah 5:22 (ESV)

Do you not fear me? declares the LORD.

Do you not tremble before me?

I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;

though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

We can be fearful and/or perplexed at these truths, or we can rejoice that God is in control and even limits and uses the evilness in this world for His good.  

God Orchestrates It All - Exodus 1-4

Exodus 2:4-10 (ESV)

And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

God orchestrates all He wants to accomplish.   Pharaoh had ordered that all male Hebrew children were to be killed upon birth.   There were to be tossed into the Nile River.   Moses’ mother was afraid of that decree, but did not kill Moses.  She kept him for three months and then put him the Nile River.   We don’t know if she did so out of the flesh and fear of the Pharaoh or out of faith and the fear of the Lord.   But from this point God puts all the pieces together.  Moses will be God’s perfect leader.  Moses will be leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land.   That means he needs the experience to do both.   In this above passage we read how God orchestrated his life to begin his knowledge of all things Egypt.   Later he will flee to the wilderness (where the nation of Israel will eventually wander for 40 years).   God will give him knowledge of both worlds.   In this above set of verses we read about how God made him cry at the right time; put his sister in the right place; put a tender heart into the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter; and made it possible for Moses to be weaned and raised by his own money, for pay!    This is how God takes all the events of our lives and weaves them into a tapestry of His sovereign plans.   Nothing that happens to us is not first decided by God before the beginning of the ages.  He has prepared our good works to walk in them before the world even began:

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Compelled To Preach The Gospel - 1 Corinthians 9-10

1 Corinthians 9:16-18 (ESV)

For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

In chapter nine of this letter to the church at Corinth, God has lead Paul to write about his own authority and standing in and toward this church.  In earlier chapters he has exposed the division in the church that some had loyalty for one and some loyalty for another and some who had loyalty for Paul.   He is correcting this devision by instructing them about his conduct in their midst.   Whereas some have taken advantage of them by collecting funds from them for their ministry, he has not.   He is not saying that ministers of the gospel should not be paid by the gospel.  In fact, just the opposite:

1 Corinthians 9:14 (ESV)

In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

But this is where he separates himself from the others in Corinth, also proclaiming the gospel.  He has not afforded himself with that right.   Instead, as he states in the above few verses, he has a compulsion to preach the gospel.  He must preach it.  It is a necessity that is laid upon him.   Oh, would that be true for us all!   It is not about leveraging the gospel for gain.   It is about gaining the gospel more leverage in the hearts of those you meet.  Paul had to preach the gospel.  He could not, not.   He believes teaching and preaching the gospel is a gift he is to steward.   As the disciples were commissioned to go into the world to preach the gospel, so, too, Paul.  This is, according to his argument, the proof of his apostleship and the reason the church at Corinth should listen to him.  Not because of who he was, but because of his message.   So, we too, ought to preach the gospel.   We should believe, like Paul, we are compelled to do so.  

Calling Our Sin in Leadership - Mark 5-6

Mark 6:14-20 (ESV)

The Death of John the Baptist

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

John the Baptist was not afraid to call out the sins of the leaders around him.  He not only called out Herod, as we read above, he also called out the religious leaders of the day:

Matthew 3:7-8 (ESV)

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Sometimes we simply have to stand up and call out sin.