The Covenant: We Listen to Him, He Listens to Us
In our last discussion we noted that the very first thing the LORD demands from those with whom He covenants is that they listen to Him. Before moving on to thinking about exactly what they are to listen to, we want to consider the reciprocity of listening. Not only does the LORD expect His covenant people to listen to Him, He expects us to respond. He–the LORD of all–listens to us, His people. That’s what we call “prayer.”
It seems to me that there is one problem with the word itself. Looking up the etymology of the word (say, at etymologyonline) indicates that the word derives from the idea of “request.” In other words prayer usually means “asking for something.” Requests are a not infrequent part of normal conversation between humans, and a very frequent part when one of these humans is a child and the other is an adult. (”Mother may I….”) Yet, most conversations between peers consist mainly of declarative statements, not requests. Is our conversation with the LORD to be like that, or is the child-parent relationship the better analogy given our total dependence on our Creator?
As it turns out, we see this part of the covenantal relationship between us and the LORD in Jeremiah himself. To see this we have to skip forward a number of chapters to a prayer of Jeremiah’s, found in chapter 32. In the first part of the chapter Jeremiah is directed by the LORD to buy a field, even though the Babylonian siegeworks are already at the gates of Jerusalem. Even the ancients understood the realtor’s maxim, “location, location, location.” So Jeremiah realized that this was absolutely the worst time to buy a field in downtown Jerusalem. After the Babylonians were through with it, it would be like downtown Hiroshima after the first A-bomb. Not many buyers would be queuing up to buy the field that he just paid his cousin a handsome sum to purchase.
With that in mind, Jeremiah approaches the LORD in prayer:
“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”–though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”
“Yet”
That small word in the last sentence is the bottom line for Jeremiah. Had Jeremiah been a brash New Yorker he might have said equivalently: “are you crazy?” In other words, you LORD made everything come true just like You said through me, and now you want me to waste my good money buying something that’s worthless as these hated foreigners take over our city and destroy it?
How I resonate with Jeremiah! I see enough of the image of God in myself to be able to reason and argue and debate with the Almighty, yet I know that His power and knowledge and wisdom and intelligence and holiness are so far above mine that He must be right and I must be wrong. How intensely I felt this as Susan lay dying. As Jeremiah saw no point in buying the field, I could see no point in why Susan would have to leave this life so early. At age 59, when many people are just starting into their “golden years.” When new grandbabies were coming, when the women of the family needed so much her wisdom and encouragement. When I would be alone and devastated without her. Why, why, why?
But I fall silent as I reread the first part of Jeremiah’s prayer. This is the Lord GOD I am talking to, He who made the heavens and earth. Who made the Susan I loved so much. Who, in His providence gave her to me as wife. To me, who didn’t deserve one so beautiful and so wise and so loving.
Even as Jeremiah recounts the wondrous acts of the LORD in the history of His people, so I am led to recall in my mind the wondrous ways he blessed me as a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle and yes, even as a son-in-law and a brother-in-law. He indeed does show steadfast love to thousands, because nothing is too hard for Him.
So, coming back to our original question: conversation or request? It seems if we take Jeremiah’s prayer as a model, both are called for. We even see glimmerings of that old formula that gets quoted regarding prayer: ACTS–adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Jeremiah clearly acknowledges the LORD’s glory (adoration), confesses the sins of his people, recalls God’s favor to his people (implied thanksgiving) and then finally gets to his bottom line: “yet.” The latter is his way of supplicating, of asking the hard “why” question with its implied request for an answer to his wavering faith.
But beyond the formulaic approach to prayer, there lies the deeper issue of struggling to know this ONE with whom we have to do. This LORD GOD who is so far above us, yet is as close to us as a baby (like the one in Bethlehem) that we can hold in our arms, helpless and dependent. I knew Susan better than any human on the face of the earth. We could ride along in silence and then the next one to speak would finish the thought of the other: our thinking followed the same path, and was shaped by the same experiences. Yet, there was a core of her being–that feminine mystique–that was always impenetrable to me, even though other females instantly understood. I see a similar paradox in Jeremiah’s dealing with his Lord, and in my dealings with my Lord. “I believe, help thou my unbelief.”
So, it is with anticipation that we await the Lord’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer……and to our own. May He alone, the author and finisher of our faith, be praised!