Jeremiah's Prayer
B. Beddome, M. A. Jeremiah 15:15 O LORD, you know: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in your long-suffering… I. THE PROPHET'S PRAYER. 1. "Remember me," O Lord! (1) There is a sense in which God may be said to remember His people so as to take particular knowledge of them, and all that pertains to them. He remembers their persons, knows their exact number, and not one of them shall be lost (Isaiah 44:21, 22; Isaiah 49:14-16). He remembers their frailties and infirmities, how unable they are to bear affliction without His support, and hears the gentle whisper and the secret groan with parental tenderness (Jeremiah 2:2, 3). He remembers all their endeavours to serve and please Him, however weak and imperfect they have been; and in instances where they pitied and relieved any of His needy and afflicted ones, without the prospect of reward, and from love to Him, He will bring it to remembrance, and return it all into their bosom (Hebrews 6:10). All the prayers of His people are come up as a memorial before Him, and shall not be forgotten. Sooner or later they shall all be answered, whether they live to see it or not; for God sometimes answers the prayers of His people, after they are gone to their graves, in blessings on their connections and posterity. (2) The Lord not only remembers His people so as to know and notice them, as He does His other works; but in a special manner, so as to delight in them to do them good, and feel a satisfaction in them. He taketh pleasure in the prosperity of His servants, and will exert Himself on their behalf. He will so remember them as to direct them in their difficulties, succour them in their temptations, guard them when in danger, and bring them out of trouble. 2. "And visit me." This implies that where God graciously remembers anyone, He will also visit them. Of the Lord's visits to His people, it may be observed — (1) They are promised, and He will fulfil His word. Thus it was with respect to that long-expected and much-desired one, at the incarnation (Luke 1:54, 55, 78, 79). The same may be said of all His visits to His people: they are not casual, but determined. And as they are at a fixed time on God's part, so they are most seasonable on ours: they are made when we most need them, and when He shall be most glorified by them. (2) They are free and voluntary and on our part wholly undeserved: they are what we seek, but cannot claim. (3) Divine visits are often short and transient, like the sheet that was three times let down from heaven while Peter was praying upon the house top, and almost immediately taken up again. The manifestations of Divine love are often like a land flood — sudden, overflowing, and soon spent; but the love itself is a boundless ocean, an ever-flowing stream. (4) However short the Divine visits are, they are often repeated, and are peculiar to the favourites of heaven. They impart life to our graces, vigour to our services, and comfort to our souls. (5) They are powerful and influential, always bringing peace and comfort to the soul. II. CONCLUDING REMARKS. 1. Though God hath promised His presence with His people, yet He may for a time withhold the manifestation of it (Job 23:8, 9; Lamentations 1:16). Such departures are very distressing, though but temporary; and those who have been most indulged with the Divine presence are most affected with its withdrawment; while those who have never experienced the former are insensible and unconcerned about the latter. 2. When God forbears His visits, His people are apt to think that He has forgotten them (Psalm 31:12; Psalm 88:14, 15). 3. To be remembered and visited of God is a blessing infinitely to be desired; and those especially who fear they are forgotten by Him feel it to be so (Psalm 73:25). 4. Those who desire God's presence must seek it by earnest prayer. (B. Beddome, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. WEB: Yahweh, you know; remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors; don't take me away in your longsuffering: know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.