Call on Him, He Will Answer

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Jeremiah 33:1-3 (NIV) ¹ While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: ² "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: ³ 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Luke 18:1-8 (NIV) ¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' ⁴ "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'" ⁶ And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Introduction

In these two passages we see three things about prayer. We see that God will answer, we see that we should pray continually,and we see that we should not become discouraged when our prayers are not answered in the way or on the timetable we'd like.

God Commands Us to Pray (Jer. 33:3; Luke 18:1)

At this time Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians. Jeremiah had been preaching that God was going to allow the Babylonians to take the land as a judgment against them, and it would go better for the people of Judah if they would just surrender to them. Zechariah was king at this time, and both he and the people considered Jeremiah a traitor for prophesying against Judah. His prophecy was demoralizing the people in their stand against the enemy. Because of this act of treachery Jeremiah was under arrest. But because of his status as a prophet, rather than being kept in the dungeon he was kept in the courtyard of the guard. He says that the word of the Lord came to him a second time. The first time was in chapter 32, when the Lord told him to buy a piece of land from a relative. Buying land while the Babylonians were poised to storm the city and take all the land would have been considered a very bad investment. But Jeremiah had prophesied that God would restore Judah and Israel. Buying the land was a statement of his faith that God would eventually bring his people out of captivity.

When God speaks to Jeremiah again. he told Jeremiah to tell the people to pray. He gives several reasons why they should pray in the face of this impending judgment and destruction.

1. He is creator of all the earth.

   1. He made it.

   2. He formed it.

   3. He established it.

   4. If God could create the whole world and all that is in it, how hard is it for him to restore Judah after the Babylonians take it?

2. His name is the LORD. Literally, his name is יהוה (YHWH). This is the name that God gave Moses when Moses asked him, "Who shall I say sent me?" It is derived from the Hebrew verb, "to be" or "to exist." As the one who exists he is the one who can bring into existence. Therefore it is no problem for him to bring the people out of captivity, to enable them to retake the land, rebuild Jerusalem, rebuild the temple. The Jews could not imagine that they could ever be a nation again if they were conquered and exiled by the Babylonians. Jeremiah was teaching them that instead of resisting the Babylonians, they should be crying out to God.

3. If we call, God says he will answer.

4. If we call, God says he will tell us great and unsearchable things. God is anxious to reveal himself to us. He wants to reveal his will. He wants to reveal his plans. He wants us to understand his ways. All he requires is that we call on him and he will speak to us.

God Rewards Our Persistence in Prayer (Luke 18:1-7)

Luke tells us that Jesus told this parable for two reasons.

1. That mean ought always to pray.

   1. The differences between the judge in the parable and God.

      1. The judge was unjust (did not fear God).

      2. The judge was unloving (did not care about man).

      3. See Luke 10:27 for the two greatest commandments, love of God and neighbor. This judge fulfilled neither. Jesus was basically showing that he was a man with no moral fiber. He only did the right think because the woman made it more trouble NOT to give justice than to give it.

2. That they should never give up.

Conclusion

Let us never give up praying. We are prone to give up if we expect prayer to change things. But when we realize that prayer opens a channel of change from God, that it changes us more than our circumstances, and that God is both loving and just and we can trust him to hear and respond as we need.