At first glance, this command not to pray is shocking. So often, I engage in conversations with other Christians who are baffled by the circumstance of our culture. Many believers need more Christians to pray, strap up their boots, and get to work sharing the Gospel. Although this is true, God commissioned believers to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth; I believe our motivation for doing so can often be skewed. We can look at this fallen world around us, know that Jesus Christ is the solution, and quickly want to bring restoration by sharing the message of repentance. However, as in my life, sometimes we must allow ourselves and others to deal with the consequences of sin for God to penetrate our stubborn hearts and cause us to repent. 

So often in the church, we teach that God is love because he is, but he is also justice. In Jeremiah chapter 11, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people and says he won’t listen to them if they pray. A time comes when God must dispense justice. Sin brings its own bitter reward. If the people were unrepentant and continued their sin, neither their prayers nor Jeremiah’s would prevent God’s judgment. Their and our only hope is repentance-sorrow for sin, turning from it, and turning to God. Yet, believers can often get in the way of God’s judgment by attempting to prolong the inevitable. We jump in prematurely, trying to keep that person from suffering when suffering is what they need to be brought into the right relationship with God.

In studying Jeremiah, I know five things about God:

1. Although God chose Israel for a special purpose, he loves all people and wants all to come to him.

2. God is holy and will not tolerate sin.

3. God’s judgments are not based on prejudice and a desire for revenge but on fairness and justice.

4. God does not delight in judgment but in salvation.

5. God is impartial; he judges everyone by the same standard. 

When you share the Gospel with others, ask God first what is your motivation for doing so. How can we keep praying for God’s help if we haven’t committed our lives to him as a country, as a people, as a church? God’s blessings come when we are committed to him, not the. We selfishly hang on to our sinful and worldly ways.