JEREMIAH'S PRAYER

PROCLAMATION

“Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.  Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure, not in Your anger, or You will reduce me to nothing.  Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the peoples who do not call on Your name…”  Jeremiah 10:23-25 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

These are the words of The Lord God which were spoken to the prophet Jeremiah and proclaimed to the people of Judah.  He warns the people not to take on the ways of the surrounding nations for their worship of idols is worthless. (Jeremiah 10:1-5)  Then he compares and contrasts the idols to The Lord God. (Jeremiah 10:6-16)  He again warns them of their pending destruction. (Jeremiah 10:17-18)  Then Jeremiah prayed for the people.  He asked The Lord God to punish the people mercifully and not in His anger but turn His anger on the nations that do not acknowledge Him.

APPLICATION

Many people place an idol in their homes for one to two weeks annually but claim that  they do not worship it.  They have someone cut down a tree and shape it, then they take it home, stand it upright, and decorate it. (Jeremiah 10:2-4)  Why do people imitate the ways of a pagan idol ritual and put up a “Christmas tree” which has no relation to Christ?  Many of our practices are just like the unsaved heathens.  Jeremiah prayed for the people who did not order their own steps.  Today, many of us need prayer for the same reason.  The steps of a good man are ordered by The Lord, (Psalm 37:23) but no one knows who is ordering our steps.  We need God’s mercy and not His wrath.  So, let us pray for one another. (James 5:16)