Jeremiah Chapter 37 - Inquiring of God

“Pray now to the Lord our God for us.”

A striking request from King Zedekiah to Jeremiah, considering that it’s prefaced with this note:

“neither [Zedekiah] nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 37:2).

Yet sometimes we too hope, just as Zedekiah might’ve, that a spiritual person’s prayer can be a substitute for our personal faith.

We wrongly think their prayer can be a shortcut for us getting things without us doing the whole ‘being spiritual’ shebang.

And indeed Zedekiah did hope to get things out of God, since he was inquiring of Him (Jeremiah 37:7).

But ultimately, he was unwilling to accept God’s response, as sometimes we are, too.

God is kind. Just as God answered the faithful David when he inquired of Him (1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 1 Samuel 30:8), God answers the faithless Zedekiah (Jeremiah 37:7-10).

Unfortunately, Zedekiah didn’t truly care about what God’s opinions were. And rather than align his thinking with God’s response, Zedekiah only wanted God to affirm his personal hopes.

We know this not only from the preface’s comment about his attitude, but also his action at the end of the chapter: shutting Jeremiah up in the court of the prison.

It might sounds like Zedekiah did this out of the goodness of his heart. Zedekiah agrees to commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison (in Zedekiah’s house) instead of his current prison in Jonathan’s house, because Jeremiah was afraid he would die in the latter and pleaded with him (Jeremiah 37:20-21).

However, Zedekiah had done so out of bitterness towards God’s reply.

Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison … For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it …” ?’ (Jeremiah 32:2-3)

If you’ve yet to begin inquiring of God, today is a great day to start.

What are two ways to inquire of God better than Zedekiah did?

Inquire of God to let Him lead, rather than to seek affirmation for an idea you refuse to let go of
- Remember that it is God, not you, in the driver’s seat
Inquire of God with a heart willing to accept God’s direction
- Remember that sometimes, full acceptance comes through prayers. The first step towards surrender is praying for God to work in your heart.