16th.: Jeremiah’s Intercession
One last point on Jeremiah's prayer can be made.
Repeating Jeremiah
1) Asked God why He hated Israel.
2) Appealed to God’s mercy for his people.
3) Confessed sins (i.e. broken national promises).
4) Appealed to God’s innate glory.
5) Appealed to God to keep his promises.
6) The truth is, the nation of Judah has no one else to turn to; only God is real, the other gods are made-up.
7) Therefore, they will wait for God to respond (i.e. commit to reuniting with God (stop forsaking Him)).
There seems to be a chiastic structure to this prayer:
1) Start with forsaking
2) Proceed through mercy and broken promises
3) Centered on God’s glory
4) Return through fulfilled promises and truth
5) End with reunion.
Some people can extemporaneously utter such prayers.
The rest of us must sit down, and thoughtfully compose such a prayer.
This planning stage will help us determine what is most important to us, and what would be most important to the Lord
(develop a reason that He would accept, to grant our request). Therefore, there may be times to first write down our request to the Lord (and review it several times), before we present it to Him.
“A man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.” (Pr. 1:5b)