Groups Literature
Series Introduction[1]
There are times that prayers become heart cries. These are moments when the normal, run of the mill prayer will not do. We are in moments of desperation and we are crying out to Him. None of us would want a circumstance that would bring us to this posture before God. At the same time, if we can bear it, we realize that this is the posture that God always wants. So, the fact that God allows this into our lives is really a mercy. This is God’s way of allowing us to understand our deep need for Him. That is a wonderful truth to understand, and we are grateful.
The prophet Jeremiah understood this. He was called the weeping prophet because he faced such adversity, and because he prophesied in a very difficult time in the life of Judah. Let’s take a moment and connect these events to the Story of Scripture. Jeremiah was a prophet, meaning he was called to speak for God to the nation. His ministry took place after the nation of Israel was divided into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been taken into exile. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) had not yet been taken. Jeremiah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom. He was to speak for God, especially to the last king of Judah, King Zedekiah, to tell the people that they should turn back to God. The King was wicked. He would not turn. In fact, the King would persecute Jeremiah for his ministry. This was a very difficult season for the nation, and for Jeremiah.
However, what makes Jeremiah so interesting is that some of the most hopeful passages in the bible come from Jeremiah! Jeremiah writes,
Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:3
Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33
For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You shall find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11,12
So, how is it that the prophet who has the most hardship, has the most glorious promises. The answer is that he did not just pray, but he cried out to God. Some have said, we should not think of him as the weeping prophet, but the praying prophet. Jeremiah’s prayers were true heart cries to God. God heard those cries, and He answered his prayers.
For the next five weeks we will examine the prayers of Jeremiah. In these prayers our goal is for God to help us in our heart cry to Him – that our God would hear our Heart Cry to Him.
Oh, and by the way, the book also contains this interesting command in Jeremiah 31:16 when he writes,
Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord!
This is a command not to weep! So, with all the struggles that Jeremiah encountered, in the end there is a great hope. God is encouraging him that eventually He is going to do a great work. His tears are going to be followed with joy.
Jeremiah, the praying prophet, is the one who God entrusts with some of the most encouraging verses in the Bible! This is because from heart cry comes heart joy. As Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3, God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Since this is the most famous prayer of Jeremiah, let’s start there.
[1] These lessons are based on Dr. Smith’s book Exalting Christ in Jeremiah and Lamentations in the Christ-Centered Exposition Series.
There are times that prayers become heart cries. These are moments when the normal, run of the mill prayer will not do. We are in moments of desperation and we are crying out to Him. None of us would want a circumstance that would bring us to this posture before God. At the same time, if we can bear it, we realize that this is the posture that God always wants. So, the fact that God allows this into our lives is really a mercy. This is God’s way of allowing us to understand our deep need for Him. That is a wonderful truth to understand, and we are grateful.
The prophet Jeremiah understood this. He was called the weeping prophet because he faced such adversity, and because he prophesied in a very difficult time in the life of Judah. Let’s take a moment and connect these events to the Story of Scripture. Jeremiah was a prophet, meaning he was called to speak for God to the nation. His ministry took place after the nation of Israel was divided into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been taken into exile. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) had not yet been taken. Jeremiah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom. He was to speak for God, especially to the last king of Judah, King Zedekiah, to tell the people that they should turn back to God. The King was wicked. He would not turn. In fact, the King would persecute Jeremiah for his ministry. This was a very difficult season for the nation, and for Jeremiah.
However, what makes Jeremiah so interesting is that some of the most hopeful passages in the bible come from Jeremiah! Jeremiah writes,
Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you have not known.
Jeremiah 33:3
Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jeremiah 31:31-33
For I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You shall find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11,12
So, how is it that the prophet who has the most hardship, has the most glorious promises. The answer is that he did not just pray, but he cried out to God. Some have said, we should not think of him as the weeping prophet, but the praying prophet. Jeremiah’s prayers were true heart cries to God. God heard those cries, and He answered his prayers.
For the next five weeks we will examine the prayers of Jeremiah. In these prayers our goal is for God to help us in our heart cry to Him – that our God would hear our Heart Cry to Him.
Oh, and by the way, the book also contains this interesting command in Jeremiah 31:16 when he writes,
Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord!
This is a command not to weep! So, with all the struggles that Jeremiah encountered, in the end there is a great hope. God is encouraging him that eventually He is going to do a great work. His tears are going to be followed with joy.
Jeremiah, the praying prophet, is the one who God entrusts with some of the most encouraging verses in the Bible! This is because from heart cry comes heart joy. As Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3, God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Since this is the most famous prayer of Jeremiah, let’s start there.
[1] These lessons are based on Dr. Smith’s book Exalting Christ in Jeremiah and Lamentations in the Christ-Centered Exposition Series.