Illustration: We want to know what makes people ¡§tick¡¨. What do they do when not in the public eye? I.e. election campaigns, tabloids.
For Jeremiah, the answer is obvious. Seven different times in the book of Jeremiah, we see what happens in the life of Jeremiah when he¡¦s alone and we find that in each of those cases, what Jeremiah does is that he prays.
Review
„« Run with Purpose
„« Run with Perspective
Today: Run with Prayer
Jeremiah does not address the HOW of prayer ¡V he addresses the HEART of prayer.
Illustration: Anniversary dinner at Melting Pot
„« Intimate encounter with my wife
„« Other things going on around us, but they did not intrude on our intimacy
„« From time to time the server comes to take our order, refill our water, etc.
„« When we¡¦re done we leave a tip for the server
„« When we depart, the conversation doesn¡¦t end, it just takes a different form
„« Too many of us engage in that kind of prayer relationship with God, but with one huge difference ¡V the person across the table from us is Self and the waiter is God.
Prayer in Jeremiah 15 is a good example of what happens when Jeremiah prays.
When I get to the HEART of prayer, I¡K
1. REVEAL - EXPRESS MY FEELINGS
You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering - do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?
Jeremiah 15:15-18 (NIV)
We tend to think of prayer as accepting and soothing, which it often is, but Jeremiah¡¦s prayer expresses feelings we often feel ashamed to express in prayer:
Jeremiah was:
„« Frightened
You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering - do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
„« Lonely
When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty. I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.
„« Hurt
Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable?
„« Angry
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails?
¡KThey have forsaken me, the spring of living water¡K
Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)
Eugene Peterson:
Believers argue with God; skeptics argue with each other.
Jeremiah¡¦s prayer does not end when he finishes speaking. In prayer, God is not our audience, he is our partner. After Jeremiah speaks honestly, he waits expectantly.
2. REPENT ¡V EXCHANGE MY FOCUS
Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me¡K
Jeremiah 15:19 (NIV)
Jeremiah¡¦s preaching was focused on the idea of repentance. Now God tells Jeremiah that he needs to repent, too.
Eugene Peterson:
Jeremiah¡¦s part in the prayer was to be honest and personal; it is God with whom he has to do¡KGod¡¦s part in the prayer is to restore and save¡KGod feels our pains, but he does not indulge our self-pity.
This part of prayer goes back to what we looked at the very first week in our study of Jeremiah. If I want to run with the horses, I need to get my focus off of self and get it on God. Prayer, especially the honest kind of prayer we see from Jeremiah, helps me to do that. By laying out my feelings honestly before God, I begin to understand that God understands those feelings, but he also wants me to move beyond them.
3. REFLECT ¡V EXAMINE MY FOUNDATIONS
¡Kif you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
Jeremiah 15:19 (NIV)
Jeremiah was understandably discouraged. By this time, had probably been preaching God¡¦s word for about 20 years ¡V with no visible results. Jeremiah had to be tempted to just how in the towel. Why not just preach what the people wanted to hear? Why go through the pain and misery of being faithful to God?
But in prayer, God leads us to re-examine our priorities, to go back to those foundations he has established for our lives.
Several hundred years later, a young preacher named Timothy faced a very similar situation:
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:3-5 (NIV)
The setting of priorities in my life is not a one-time act. I must constantly go to God in prayer so that he can speak to my heart and reaffirm his priorities for my life.
4. RENEW ¡V EXPERIENCE GOD¡¦S FAITHFULNESS
I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you," declares the LORD. "I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."
Jeremiah 15:20-21 (NIV)
We saw last week that Jeremiah had already heard some words very similar to these as a youth. In Jeremiah 1:18-19, God had promised to make Jeremiah a ¡§fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall¡¨ Twenty years later, Jeremiah needs to hear that those words are still true. He needs to know that even though his circumstances have changed, God hasn¡¦t changed.
Eugene Peterson:
Prayer is not so much the place where we learn something new, but where God confirms anew the faith to which we are committed.
