July 14, 2024

Jeremiah 14.11 (NIV)

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people.”

There can be no reason for praying if there be no expectation of the Lord's answering.*

I have told despairing parents that they should never give up on their wayward children. I have encouraged them to keep on praying for their loved ones. But in this verse, God sets a precedent for giving up on someone. He gave up on an entire nation of people. He no longer referred to them as “my” people but “this” people.

What were the people guilty of that made God give up on them? You would expect that the verses following this one would contain a long list of atrocities but they don’t. God’s patience was exhausted because the prophets were prophesying lies in God’s name.

A second look reveals that God didn’t tell Jeremiah not to pray for the salvation of these people. He just told him not to pray for their well-being. Is that significant? Yes. Because salvation is impossible without repentance, there was no point in praying for their well-being until they repented. God had not ruled out the possibility of sincere repentance,* and a little suffering in this life might just cause them to turn from their wicked ways. It had certainly worked in the past.

Salvation is much more important than having a happy life. Keep praying for your loved one's salvation.

There comes a time to quit mourning and move on. You shake the dust off your feet and turn the spiritual welfare of your loved one over to the Lord and accept God’s next assignment. You pray for the one who has fallen but you refuse to let Satan have two victories over one defection.*