A Prayer For Every Day

No-one goes on forever. We read about David’s reign coming to an end, about David being replaced by Solomon (1 Kings 1:30). Help us, Lord, to pray that the future will be “greater” than the past (1 Kings 1:37,47). In all of life’s changes, help us to remember this: You are the living God (1 Kings 1:29) – the God who remains constant when everything else is changing, the God whose love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.

‘Egypt’ was to be a place of punishment. Lord, You speak to those who remain in the the place of rebellion. You say to them, ‘I will punish you in this place.’This is Your Word of warning. We don’t need to remain in the place of rebellion and punishment. We can ‘return’ to ‘Judah’, the place of obedience and blessing (Jeremiah 44:28-29). This is not about places we will find on a map of the world. It’s a call to look into the secret places of our hearts. Teach us, Lord, to search our hearts. What will You find when You look into our hearts? Will You find rebellion? Will You find obedience? You want us to leave the place of rebellion and punishment. You want us to return to the place of obedience and blessing. ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart!... See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’ (Psalm 139:23-24).

‘Is there any Word from the Lord?’ - ‘Yes! There is a Word from the Lord.’ Lord, Your Word wasn’t exactly what the king wanted to hear - ‘You will be handed over to the king of Babylon’ (Jeremiah 37:17). You were going to bless Your people - but they would have to be patient: Things were going to get an awful lot worse before they would get much better! Before their restoration - “I will bring them back and restore them to this place’, Your people faced captivity - ‘They will be taken to Babylon.’There was bad news - a captivity of  ‘seventy years.’There was good news - the captivity wouldn’t last forever (Jeremiah 37:27:22; 29:10-11)! Lord, You speak of Your blessing - ‘It will certainly come’, but You also say, ‘Wait for it’ (Habakkuk 2:3). Help us to listen to all that You say to us - and not ‘only hear what we want to hear’!

Sometimes, Lord, we don't feel like the sun is shining upon us. When we feel like this, help us to know that the light and love of Your Son is always shining upon us. When we're feeling down, help us to remember that You raised Jesus up - "Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes." This is what we need to hear. This is what lifts us up: up - into Your presence, up - out of our sin, up - into Your salvation' upwards and onwards - to Your eternal glory.

Often, Lord, we come to Your House with so little expectation of Your blessing. Where does this attitude come from? - It doesn't come from You. You are the great God. You fill our hearts with 'great expectations.' When Satan comes to us, filling our hearts with apathy - the 'couldn't-care-less' attitude, help us to tell him that You are the great God (Psalm 135:5) - great in holiness, power and love, the faithful God who comes to us with great promises of blessing. When, Lord, we are blessed by You, help us to give all the glory to You.

‘No Surrender’ - Lord, was this the way forward for Your people? ‘No Surrender’ - What would happen if Your people adopted this attitude? Jeremiah speaks Your Word to the people. He calls them to make their choice. They can ‘surrender’ and ‘live.’ They can say, ‘No Surrender’ - and face certain death  (Jeremiah 38:17-18). Captivity in Babylon would not be easy. They would be heartbroken as they recalled happier times - ‘By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.’ It would be so difficult to keep on praising You - ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’ (Psalm 137:1,4). Life in Babylon would be difficult - but ‘it would not be the end of the world’! They could still look forward to the fulfilment of Your ‘gracious promise’: ‘I will come to you and bring you back to this place’ (Jeremiah 29:10).