“When to STOP Praying” – FBC Morning Light (10/5/2023)

Well, good Thursday morning to you today. Again, we're reading in Jeremiah today, chapters 11 and 12, 2 Timothy 3 and Proverbs 28. And again today, when I look at a few verses from Jeremiah's prophecy, and particularly in chapter 11, the Lord gives some instructions to Jeremiah that may seem a little odd to us.

When It Is Wrong to Pray for Deliverance from Judgment

Let me ask you this. Is it ever inappropriate to pray for someone who's hurting to be delivered from that hurt? What do you think? I know if you're a sensitive believer in Christ, follower of Christ, and one who prays for people, that your initial reaction or response to that question would probably be, well, no, I mean, certainly we want to pray for people when they're hurting, and why wouldn't we?

Well, there are some occasions when, well, we really shouldn't pray for them to be delivered from their hurt. Let me explain. Here in this passage in Jeremiah, chapter 11, earlier, and we're gonna look at verse 14 in a minute, but earlier than that, the Lord says to Jeremiah, in verse 9, he says a conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

What are they doing? They've turned their back, they have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refuse to hear my words. Now, these are people who claim to be God's people. They refuse to hear my words, the Lord says, and they have gone after other gods to serve them.

The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore, the Lord says, behold, I will surely bring calamity on them, which they will not be able to escape, and though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.

And so, down in verse 14, the Lord says to Jeremiah, so do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to me because of their trouble.

So what the Lord instructs Jeremiah here in verse 14 is, when this calamity comes, don't pray for the people to be delivered from the calamity, pray for the calamity to do its work, to bring about its effect that is intended, its intended effect on the people.

Don't pray for them. That kind of rubs us the wrong way, doesn't it? We kind of see people hurting and suffering and we want to be praying for them. Well, generally speaking, we should. I mean, we always take time in our church family to pray for people who are hurting or sick and so forth, but that's not the general application of prayer that the Lord is giving to Jeremiah here.

The way the Lord is applying the idea of prayer for people who are hurting is specifically people who are hurting as a consequence of their rebellion and sin against the Lord. Don't pray for them to be delivered from that.

Don't pray for them to have an easy go of it. No. No. Don't pray for their deliverance. The Lord says, I'm not going to listen to that. When they cry out to me in such case, I'm not going to listen to that.

They turn their back on the Lord. People don't want to have anything to do with what God has to say. They hear God's Word, they ignore it. They have their other gods, and we have our contemporary gods that vie for our worship, too, as well.

Don't we? Don't we? I mean, I think about football season is underway, and I know of people who have left church early because they had to get home to see the opening kickoff of the game that they wanted to watch that day.

Seriously? That's an idol. That's an idol. I know people who are willing to skip Sunday evening church. Our church has a Sunday evening service, and you know, people used to be very faithful about church on Sunday evening, and sometimes in the course of the year they're faithful, but not during football season.

Why? Because football games on Sunday evenings, and church interferes with their football game, you know. Well, that's idolatry. All right, so the Lord says, you know, people are turning back to the iniquities of their forefathers.

They're not listening to my Word. They're worshiping their other gods. The Lord says, I'm going to bring calamity on them for this. There's going to be punishment. They're going to be chastened for this, and it's going to hurt.

Sin hurts. So when the hurt comes, don't pray for the hurt to go away. You're going to pray. Pray for the hurt to do its work, that people will be so convicted that they'll truly repent, forsake their sin, and turn back to the Lord.

I guess that would be the way to pray. Pray for the hurt to have its effect on their hearts. So Father, I pray that we would hear this not only for our prayer life, but for our everyday life. May we examine our own hearts and lives, Father, from this, and make sure that we're not worshiping some other kind of idol, that we're not refusing to listen to you and to your Word.

And Lord, I pray for those who are in such a state, I pray that before the calamity comes, they would repent and turn from their wicked ways, and turn back to you. We pray this in Jesus' name, and for his sake.

Amen. All right, well listen, have a good rest of your Thursday, and I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.