Of Prayer and Promises

Father,

Your name be honored as holy.

Your kingdom come. (Luke 11:2)

The idea that the praise of God and the first request for the coming kingdom are together is not insignificant. Since God is worthy of all praise, it stands to reason that his kingdom, his will, his rule, should be seen and manifested above ours.

In the ministry of Jesus, he healed people, and then God was glorified. Note how many times the connection is made. God is praised, and we ask that his kingdom come; and when it does, it draws more praise to him. Jesus explained this relationship in John 13:31-32 when he prayed, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.” Prayer that begins with praise as its goal will end in praise as its result. This is why we cannot pray for selfish things (Jas 4:2-3).

In the early church the call to send out missionaries came after worship. Look at the remarkable sequence of Acts 13:2: “As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” Clarity comes from worship. Leadership from God comes from worship of God. Again, prayer that begins with praise as its goal will end in praise as its result.

So when Jeremiah begins his prayer with praise, he is standing in the arc of a long trajectory throughout Scripture. Prayer that seeks results and clarity begins with praise.

Again, this follows the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer. We are taught by our Lord to seek forgiveness from sin. In this case Jeremiah is not checking something off a list. This is an important part of the discussion. God can do all things, yet we are prone to sin, as demonstrated by our past.

Now he comes down to the problem. The problem is that he had been called to do something that did not make sense. The practical lesson here is that Jeremiah did not sin by bringing his problem to God. God can handle honest prayers. If God does not squelch David for the seemingly over-the-top imprecatory prayers in Psalms, it stands to reason that he can handle it when we confess that we do not know why he is asking us to do what he is asking us to do. We are not only allowed but commanded to bring our problems to God. Anything at all.

There are times we throw up prayers of desperation to God. He hears them. This is not that. This is a thoughtful prayer that shows a pattern of lavish praise, clear confession, and then honest petition. Yet note that a pattern is not a formula. That’s not the point. The fascinating thing about this prayer is not that it guarantees certain outcomes; rather, the fascinating thing about this prayer is that it is consistent with so many other things the Scriptures teach us about prayer.

Jeremiah 32:26-44

God’s response to Jeremiah’s prayer is twofold: He will discipline, and he will gather.

God begins by affirming that Jeremiah is correct: nothing is too hard for him (v. 27). So nothing has changed. He will hand this city over to the Babylonians (v. 28).

It is almost as if God turns the question back to Jeremiah. “Do you really believe what you have just prayed? Then, Jeremiah, pay attention as I crush the reality you once held on to; watch as the narrative of a favored people who were untouchable is ruined before you without any hope. And then watch as I create a new redemptive reality.”

The new reality is that, while the judgment still stands, God will bring about a new redemption.

This is the new reality: “a permanent covenant” along the lines described in chapter 31 and a future restoration to the land. The everlasting covenant is ultimately fulfilled in the new covenant given in Christ. The first fulfillment is the restoration of Jerusalem; the complete fulfillment is the covenant that is new in Christ and the ultimate city that is to come. So we see here a distinct covenant with Israel that is affirmed, and the continuation of that affirmation is expressed in the church, God’s new covenant people.

In the following chapter God responds with clear promises.

Jeremiah 33

The conversation begins with these remarkable words to Jeremiah in 33:3: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” God responds with specific promises.

God promises in the most poetic of terms that he will restore Israel. You can feel the joy and almost hear the wedding music (vv. 7-11).

God then promises that the Davidic line will continue, and the Levitical priesthood will as well (vv. 17-18). What a wonderful promise!

Jeremiah has been given some perplexing problems to deal with. Now he has received promises that affirm what God told him previously. They also give him hope that his seventeen shekels was money well spent.

In the shadow of this great promise is a story of both promises made and promises broken.

Jeremiah 34–35

The following chapters illustrate great faithlessness and faithfulness.

Zedekiah and all his officials promised to free the countrymen they had enslaved, but then they reneged on their promise (34:10-11). This angered the Lord. Zedekiah was supposed to proclaim liberty to the captives. He did not re-present God, who loves to free enslaved people. Instead, he selfishly reimposed the oppression.

By way of contrast, the Rechabites are used in chapter 35 as an illustration of faithfulness. After being tempted to drink wine, they reply that they have remained steadfast for generations within the instructions of their ancestor. They are now the archetype of faithfulness to God. The king, sadly, is the antitype of faithfulness. He perfectly demonstrates what not to do.

Zedekiah did not demonstrate the capacity of faith. He could not bear up under the long-term vision that is needed to be a man of faith. Faithful people are often saying no to what makes sense in the immediate present in order to believe what they cannot see. This is why we are called to pray for the kingdom to come: we are looking to a city we cannot see. This is why the poor in spirit are blessed: they are divested of this life in order to embrace the life to come. As an example, the Rechabites kept their word to God even when God’s leadership in their lives was perplexing.

The applications to our lives are legion. It’s not hard to think of a dozen ways in which our time, our money, our abilities, and our resources are typically used to invest in the short term and not the long term—the eternal perspective. This is one reason God in his mercy will create situations for us like he created for Jeremiah. These situations demand that we face the perplexity of his promises. It is only there that we get it. The school of confusion graduates faithful people if they learn to praise. Praise frames prayer when God’s promises are perplexing.