When God Says No to Prayer Text: Jeremiah 14:7-12
Introduction: The Prayer That Hits the Ceiling
There are few things more disconcerting to a Christian than the experience of praying into a brass heaven. You pray, you fast, you gather with others to pray, and the only answer you get back is the echo of your own words. The problem is not a lack of sincerity, or so it seems. The petitions are biblical. The need is desperate. And yet, nothing. Silence.
We are a people who have been taught, rightly, that God hears and answers prayer. We have been told to ask, seek, and knock. But what do you do when you have asked, sought, and knocked, and the door remains bolted, the silence remains profound, and the heavens remain shut? This is the situation Jeremiah and the people of Judah find themselves in. They are in the midst of a catastrophic drought, a clear sign of covenant curse. And so, a prayer is offered up, a seemingly model prayer. It has confession. It has an appeal to God's character. It has a plea based on God's covenant relationship with His people. It has all the right ingredients. And God's answer is a swift, firm, and terrifying "No."
This passage is a bucket of cold water in the face of our therapeutic, sentimental, and altogether flabby understanding of prayer. We tend to think of prayer as a transaction where our sincerity is the currency. If we are earnest enough, if we want it badly enough, then God is somehow obligated to respond favorably. But the Bible teaches us that the effectiveness of prayer is not grounded in the sincerity of the one praying, but in the covenant faithfulness of the one being prayed to, and the covenant faithfulness of the one praying.
Here in Jeremiah, God pulls back the curtain and shows us a situation where the covenant has been so thoroughly violated by the people that their prayers have become an abomination to Him. Their worship is worthless, their fasting is offensive, and their petitions are denied before they even leave their lips. This is a hard word, but a necessary one. It forces us to ask ourselves if our prayers are genuine appeals to a holy God from a repentant heart, or if they are the religious equivalent of trying to write a check on an account that has long been closed for spiritual bankruptcy.
The Text
Although our iniquities answer against us, O Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake! Truly our acts of faithlessness have been many; We have sinned against You. O Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a sojourner in the land Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent to lodge for the night? Why are You like a man confused, Like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet You are in our midst, O Yahweh, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us! Thus says Yahweh to this people, "Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins." So Yahweh said to me, "Do not pray for the good of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine, and pestilence.
(Jeremiah 14:7-12 LSB)
A Theologically Correct Prayer (vv. 7-9)
The prayer that Jeremiah voices on behalf of the people in verses 7 through 9 is, on the surface, a model of biblical petition. It has three essential components that we should learn from, even as we learn why it was ultimately rejected.
"Although our iniquities answer against us, O Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake! Truly our acts of faithlessness have been many; We have sinned against You." (Jeremiah 14:7)
First, there is a clear confession of sin. The prayer begins with a frank admission of guilt. "Our iniquities answer against us." This is courtroom language. Their sins are the star witness for the prosecution, and their testimony is damning. They don't try to make excuses or minimize their guilt. They admit their "acts of faithlessness have been many." This is not a vague, generic "we're all sinners" kind of confession. It is specific. They have been unfaithful to the covenant. This is the necessary starting point for any right dealing with God. Until we are prepared to agree with God about the nature and extent of our sin, we are not praying; we are posturing.
Notice the basis of their appeal. It is not their own merit, which they have just admitted is nonexistent. The appeal is, "act for Your name's sake!" This is a profoundly theological argument. They are asking God to act in a way that is consistent with His revealed character. God has attached His reputation, His name, to this people. If He allows them to be utterly destroyed, what will the pagan nations say about Him? Their logic is that God's glory is at stake. This is the same argument Moses used on the brink of disaster (Ex. 32:12) and it is a powerful one. It is an appeal to God to be God.
The prayer continues, building on this foundation.
"O Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a sojourner in the land Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent to lodge for the night? Why are You like a man confused, Like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet You are in our midst, O Yahweh, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!" (Jeremiah 14:8-9)
Second, the prayer is an appeal to God's past actions and covenant relationship. They call Him the "Hope of Israel" and its "Savior in time of distress." They are recalling His track record. He has saved them before, and they are appealing to that history. But then comes the bewildered complaint. God's current behavior doesn't seem to match His resume. He is acting like a stranger, a tourist just passing through, who has no vested interest in the land. Worse, He seems like a warrior who has lost his nerve, a "mighty man who cannot save."
This is the language of covenantal confusion. They are saying, "You are not acting like Yourself." It is a bold, almost risky, line of argument. They are holding up God's character to God Himself. But it is rooted in a profound truth. God is not capricious. He is consistent. Their confusion stems from the fact that they still see themselves as His people. "Yet You are in our midst, O Yahweh, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!" The temple is in Jerusalem. They bear His name. They are His people. From their perspective, His inaction is inexplicable. It seems like He is either unable or unwilling to help, which contradicts everything they know about Him.
The Divine Rejection (vv. 10-12)
God's response is not what they expect. He doesn't dispute their theology. He doesn't argue with their description of His character. Instead, He rejects their prayer entirely, and He explains exactly why. The problem is not with the prayer's content, but with the character of the people praying it.
"Thus says Yahweh to this people, 'Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore Yahweh does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.'" (Jeremiah 14:10)
Here is the heart of the matter. God says their confession is hollow because their hearts are unchanged. They say they have sinned, but they have "loved to wander." Their problem is not one of occasional missteps; it is a problem of affection. They love their sin. Their feet have not been "kept in check." They are constitutionally restless, always looking for a new idol, a new path away from God. Their repentance is a foxhole conversion, prompted by the pain of the drought, not by a genuine hatred of their sin. They are sorry they got caught, not sorry for what they did.
Because their repentance is false, God's response is judgment. "Therefore Yahweh does not accept them." The connection is direct and causal. He is not going to grade on a curve. He is going to "remember their iniquity and punish their sins." This is terrifying. God is saying that the time for overlooking their sin is over. The bill has come due. Their superficial prayer, far from appeasing Him, has simply brought their long-standing rebellion to the forefront of His mind.
God then turns to Jeremiah and gives him a shocking command.
"So Yahweh said to me, 'Do not pray for the good of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine, and pestilence.'" (Jeremiah 14:11-12)
This is one of the most sobering commands in all of Scripture. God tells His own prophet to stop interceding. The case is closed. The verdict is in. The sentence has been passed. God is effectively saying, "Don't talk to me about them anymore. It won't do any good." He goes on to systematically dismantle all their religious activities. Their fasting? He won't listen. Their sacrifices? He won't accept them. All their religious machinery is grinding away, but it is utterly disconnected from the God it is supposed to be for. It is empty ritual, and God hates it.
Instead of blessing, God promises the classic trio of covenant curses: sword, famine, and pestilence. This is not arbitrary. This is precisely what God warned would happen in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 if they broke His covenant. God is not being moody; He is being faithful to His own warnings. The tragedy is that the people thought they could have the covenant blessings (God's presence, protection, and provision) while simultaneously spitting on the covenant requirements. God is now disabusing them of that fatal notion. The time for talk is over. The time for judgment has come.
Conclusion: Repentance That Works
So what are we to make of this? This passage is a stark warning against superficial Christianity. It teaches us that it is possible to say all the right things, to go through all the right motions, and to have a heart that is still miles away from God. God is not impressed by our religious performances. He is looking for broken and contrite hearts. He is looking for a repentance that doesn't just regret the consequences of sin, but that hates the sin itself.
The people of Judah "loved to wander." Their fundamental affections were disordered. They wanted God to be their cosmic vending machine, dispensing rain and security, while they continued to love their idols. God's answer is that He will not be used that way. He will not be mocked.
The good news of the gospel is not that God has lowered His standards. The good news is that God provides the very thing that Judah lacked: a new heart. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). This is what happens at conversion. God performs a heart transplant. He gives us new affections, new desires. He makes us people who no longer love to wander, but who love to draw near to Him.
This is why our prayers are heard when Judah's were not. It is not because we are more sincere or more clever in our arguments. It is because we do not come in our own name. We come in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who never wandered, the one whose feet were always kept in check. He perfectly fulfilled the covenant that Israel broke. And on the cross, He endured the sword, the famine, and the pestilence of God's wrath in our place. He took the full force of the covenant curses so that we could receive the full measure of the covenant blessings.
Therefore, when we pray, we pray as those who have been given a new heart and a new name. Our confession of sin is not a desperate attempt to manipulate God, but the grateful response of a child who knows he is already forgiven. Our appeal to God's name is not a gamble, but a confident claim on the reputation that God has vindicated at the empty tomb. And because of Christ, God will never say to us, "Do not pray." Instead, He invites us to "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Let us therefore examine our hearts, forsake any love of wandering, and run to that throne of grace which was purchased for us by the blood of Christ.