
There is an amazing statement about prayer in Jeremiah 18:20,
הַיְשֻׁלַּם תַּחַת־טֹובָה רָעָה
כִּי־כָרוּ שׁוּחָה לְנַפְשִׁי
זְכֹר עָמְדִי לְפָנֶיךָ לְדַבֵּר עֲלֵיהֶם טֹובָה לְהָשִׁיב אֶת־חֲמָתְךָ מֵהֶם׃
Shall evil be paid back for good?
For they have dug a pit for my soul.
Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn away Your anger from them!
Jeremiah asks God to remember his prayers. Jeremiah likens prayer to an advocate attorney standing before the Judge’s bench pleading a case on behalf of the defendant.
Prayer has a legal aspect to it. There are spiritual principles in prayer that act in a similar way to laws in a courtroom. God is the judge. We come before the judge to plead a case based on God’s laws, according to the spiritual rules by which prayer operates. We have to examine the Scriptures like a lawyer studying the law before coming to plead a case. We have to know how to plead the case.
There is an official legal aspect to prayer – in addition to the intimate aspect of talking to a loving Father. We come to make demands before God according to His own laws.
This is not offensive to God. He is delighted for it to happen. Abraham pleaded before God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. He said, “Will not the judge of all righteousness do what is right? (Genesis 18:23-25). This is just after he had lunch with God in the flesh as a personal covenant friend. Even though God was not able to spare Sodom, I believe He was happy with Abraham for challenging Him as a judge to do right. God is rather dismayed that there are not more people coming before Him as advocate attorneys, pleading for Him to act mercifully on behalf of others.
Yeshua taught that we should pray very diligently, as if we were making a case before an evil judge – Luke 18:2.(Luke 18 seems to follow up on Genesis 18.)
God wants people on earth to cry out for justice and mercy. God is the heavenly judge; we are His advocates here on earth. Yeshua is an advocate, parakletos, on our behalf (1 John 2:1). When we pray on behalf of others as in a courtroom, we are acting in the same spirit as Yeshua.
Jeremiah asks God to remember his prayers. Certainly, God remembers our prayers. He takes note and will remember forever. When Jeremiah asks for his prayers to be remembered, he is asking for God to reward him. If we pray with a right heart according to the right rules, we will be rewarded. God rewards prayer (Matthew 6:6).
God remembers what you prayed and that you prayed. He will answer what you pray and reward you that you prayed. It is a double blessing. (What a motivation to pray more and to pray harder!)
Pray on behalf of those who are against you
Jeremiah prayed to bless people who were planning to murder him. That took a lot of faith and a lot of grace. Yeshua may have had this in mind when He taught us to bless those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). That is easier said than done. Many people do us wrong. When that happens, we must forgive (Matthew 6:14-15). Praying to bless someone who has done you wrong is putting forgiveness into action. It is going beyond forgiveness.
Forgiveness says not to desire something bad to happen to one who has hurt you. Yeshua’s prayer asks for something good to happen. That is grace: undeserved favor. When we request good for someone who has done us bad, we are acting in grace. That is the God kind of love.
This kind of prayer seems rather “counter-intuitive.” It goes contrary to a natural selfish reaction. and demands overcoming human self-centeredness. It is an exercise of spirit overcoming flesh, of good overcoming evil (Romans 12:21).
When you intercede for someone else, you are exercising yourself in godliness, eusebeia (1 Timothy 4:8). You are becoming sons and daughters of your heavenly Father (Matthew 5:45). You are becoming like Yeshua.
Jeremiah prayed to stop God’s anger from punishing the people plotting to murder him. That required a profound understanding of justice and of mercy. It also implied a super confident faith that would almost seem arrogant. Jeremiah knew that if someone did him wrong, God would be angry at that person and punish him. Ironically, that is somewhat comforting. We never have to be offended, because we know that God will be angry toward anyone who tries to hurt us.
Don’t worry - God is the vindicator
We can be so confident of God’s defending us, that we will be more concerned for the other person’s safety than for our own. Yeshua said in effect, “Don’t weep for Me; weep for yourselves. God will take care of Me. But you are bringing wrath upon yourselves. You are concerned about Me being tortured, crucified, and murdered? I’m more concerned for you.” (paraphrased Luke 23:28-29).
No matter what evil happens to us and around us, God can defend us (Isaiah 50:8). He will be angry with those who do wrong. We should have no concern for our safety. God is all powerful, and He is for us. We should have merciful concern for those around us.
The people around Jeremiah did not repent. He prayed and preached for a quarter of a century. Jeremiah wept over Jerusalem, just as Yeshua did (Luke 19:41). Yeshua preached in the generation before the destruction of the Second Temple; Jeremiah preached in the generation before the destruction of the First Temple. Yeshua followed in the footsteps of Jeremiah. He was so similar to Jeremiah, that some people thought He was Jeremiah (Matthew 16:14).
May we have the same spirit of intercessory prayer! Remember that your prayers will be remembered – and answered. God will defend you and reward you.