Jeremiah 35:1-37:21
Listening to God and praying for others
Do you ever get discouraged by the fact that many people do not seem to be interested in listening to God’s words and obeying them?
God spoke to Jeremiah. Jeremiah said that God, ‘began speaking to [him] in the reign of Josiah’ (36:2). Jeremiah dictated to Baruch, ‘all the words the Lord had spoken to him’ (v.4).
Over and over again ‘the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord’ (for example, in today’s passage 35:1,12; 36:1,27; 37:6). Presumably, Jeremiah heard the word of the Lord as he was praying.
Jeremiah urged the people to listen to God. God had spoken ‘again and again’ (35:14). He said, ‘Listen!... I spoke to them and they did not listen’ (v.17).
In spite of the fact that the Lord was speaking through his prophet Jeremiah, King Jehoiakim refused to listen to his advisers’ warnings (36:25). Jeremiah had had the words of God painstakingly written on a scroll with quill and ink. But Jehoiakim, who was sitting in front of a charcoal fire warming himself, cut up the entire scroll and burned it piece by piece (v.23).
Jeremiah must have been devastated to hear what the king had done with all his hard work. God tells Jeremiah to ‘do it all over again’ (v.28, MSG). He was not put off by personal rejection. Like Jeremiah, we must be willing to keep going even if our message is rejected: ‘do it all over again.’
Disaster came, ‘Because they have not listened’ (v.31). When Zedekiah was made king, ‘Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet’ (37:2). They ill-treated Jeremiah and rejected his word. Yet, despite this refusal to listen, the authorities recognised the power of Jeremiah’s prayers. King Zedekiah sent a message to Jeremiah the prophet: ‘Please pray to the Lord our God for us’ (v.3).
Later he was arrested, beaten and imprisoned (vv.14–15). He ‘was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time’ (v.16). Yet when he was taken from his high-security cell in a dungeon to see the king and was asked, ‘Is there any word from the Lord?’ (v.17), he had the courage to speak out again. He was at the king’s mercy and yet he was completely fearless.
Lord, help me in my prayers to listen attentively to your words and to have the courage to speak them regardless of the consequences.
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