Title Unanswered Prayer (Jeremiah 14:19-22)
1. The reality in which prayer was rejected In verse 19, “Have you completely forsaken Judea? Is your spirit loathing to Zion? Why do you strike and heal us? We are amazed when we hope for peace and there is nothing good and we wait for healing. I see," he said. The text is Jeremiah's prayer. Jeremiah loved the Jewish people as his own body and appealed to God, saying, “Have you completely forsaken us or will you not heal us?” When Jeremiah sees God beating Zion and not healing him, it is like God completely forsaking Judea and saying that the Lord's heart hates Zion. “When we look for peace, there is nothing good, and when we wait for healing, we find surprise.” The Jewish people want to be healed and they want peace, but they do not come, so they are complaining.
2. Confessing the sins of the nation Verse 20 says, "O LORD, we acknowledge our iniquity and the iniquity of our ancestors, but we have all sinned against you." Jeremiah prayed on behalf of the people, acknowledging their sins and the sins of their ancestors, repenting, and waiting for God's mercy. God hears these prayers and binds up those wounds. Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who hides his sins will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find mercy." So Jeremiah is knocking on the door of God's mercy again. To that end, he is standing before God and pleading with God, bearing the sins of the people. The only way to break down the wall with God is confession of sin, but when the door of answers is closed, even such prayers are meaningless.
3. Appeal that calls for answers Verse 21 says, "For the sake of your name, do not hate us, and do not dishonor the throne of your glory. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it. If they see the sins they have committed, they deserve to be destroyed, but this is a prayer to see your name, your glory, and your covenant and have mercy on them and save them. Because the Jewish people are God's people who are called by your name, the glory of the Lord depends on them. If they do well, they glorify God, and if they do wrong, they bring dishonor to God. Therefore, they deserve to perish because of their sins, but Jeremiah prayed that God's glory would be obscured and God's covenant would be abolished, and that they would be saved.
(1) For the glory of the name of the Lord, the name of God means its honor and glory. Since Judea is God's chosen people, the destruction of Judea will be a blemish to God's honor and the spiritual king, so it contains the mournful will to save Judea from its sins and not to look back on its sins. “And do not dishonor the throne of your glory,” he prayed. Here, “the above of the glory of the Lord” refers to the city of God, Jerusalem, or the temple where God dwells. The destruction of Jerusalem includes the destruction of the temple, and the destruction of the temple would leave no place for God, so they asked for the destruction of Jerusalem to be spared. It must be a disgrace to God to be the laughing stock of a stranger passing through Jerusalem. However, since Jerusalem was already filled with idols before the destruction of Jerusalem, idols are also located in the temple, so the dwelling place for God has already disappeared. Therefore, Jerusalem was in the realm of destruction and was already spiritually destroyed.
(2) For the covenant “The covenant of the Lord” is the promise of salvation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jeremiah's prayer was not selfish, but God-centered. It is also a prayer for your name, your glory, and your covenant. Even if we die, we must die for the Lord, and if we live, we must live for the Lord (Romans 14:8). It is a sin and an evil to pray for good things through selfishness. The saints should be used to fulfill the word of God's covenant so that the kingdom of God can be well established and God's righteousness can be fulfilled.