SCRIPTURE:
“But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah. Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”"
Jeremiah 37:2-3
OBSERVATION:
Here we have the interaction of King Zedekiah, son of King Josiah (remember him), and his refusal to listen to any of the prophecies the LORD instructed Jeremiah to tell the king.
Yet the king wants Jeremiah to pray to God...FOR them?!
We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Here’s the original backstory from the Chronicles;
“Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
But Zedekiah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and he refused to humble himself when the prophet Jeremiah spoke to him directly from the Lord.
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, even though he had taken an oath of loyalty in God’s name.
Zedekiah was a hard and stubborn man, refusing to turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
(2 Chronicles 36:11-13)
So it’s no surprise that as we read through today’s reading, Jerusalem falls, the rebellious people and those who ran away die, and King Zed is overthrown and his staff and heirs are killed.
All because King Zed refused to listen to the word of God from Jeremiah. Even though he asked Jeremiah to “pray for them.”
APPLICATION:
What did I learn from this long winded observation?
Relationship is everything.
With the prophet.
With those the LORD says will appear to be your enemy, but will eventually become your captor and contemporary.
And ultimately with the LORD God Himself.
Asking someone to “pray for me” without a true relationship is like asking a stranger to be let into a concert or club; the promoter would say, “who’s that?”, and slam the door.
Unless the prayer is, for the one asking, to have a relationship founded in obedience, it’s going to just be words.
And it starts with listening.
PRAYER:
Dear God, I don’t want my prayers to just be air going up and around.
Help me learn from the stubbornness of king Zedekiah and seek You daily, and most of all, to listen what You tell me. Amen!
