Jeremiah 14:7-9 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do you it for your name's sake: for our backslidings are many… I. We begin with TEMPORAL GOOD THINGS. None indeed are particularised by Jeremiah. All that he asks is comprised in these words, "Do Thou." But anyone who observes the context may see what the prophet would have. He would have dew, and rain, and fruitful seasons, for the preservation of man and beast. 1. Temporal good things pertain to the present life. In heaven we shall neither hunger nor thirst, and since we look for a body without animal appetites, duty, interest, and honour call on us to keep these appetites of our present body under subjection. 2. In the present life temporal good things are necessary. Without a competent portion of these men cannot live. The body, which is the workmanship of God, must be fed and clothed; and how great is His goodness in providing for it things that are needful! Let heaven, and earth, and seas, praise the Lord. 3. Temporal good things are promised. Till the purpose of God be accomplished, the present frame of the world, in the riches of His goodness, and long-suffering, must be upheld; and promises of upholding, and of the means of upholding it, are made to Christ, for the sake of His body, the redeemed (Isaiah 49:8; Hosea 2:22, 23). 4. Temporal good things are produced by the power and goodness of God, operating in material and secondary causes. The heavens and the earth, the sun, the rain, the dew, and the air, have not the power of vegetation and fertility in themselves. They are merely instruments by which the power of God is exerted. 5. Temporal good things are turned away by our iniquities (Jeremiah 3:2, 3; Jeremiah 5:24-26). 6. Temporal good things are benefits for which intercession and prayer should be made. In the prayer which our Lord taught the disciples a petition for these appears: "Give us this day our daily bread." II. THE PLEA which appears in the text for temporal good things. It is, you observe, the name of the Lord: "O Lord, — do Thou for Thy name's sake." 1. An honourable plea, and worthy of God, before whom and concerning whom it is used. The glory of His name is the end, and the motive, and the reason of His works; and in doing for it the works like Himself, and independent of considerations of worth in creatures. In the name of the Lord our God every ray of essential and revealed glory meets, and shines forth; and to make this glory the supreme end of His operations and communications, is a perfection which He cannot deny nor give away. This supreme motive He avows, and holds up to the adoration of His people, and jealousy for it is His praise and His honour (Ezekiel 36:22; Isaiah 48:9-11; Psalm 115:1). 2. A prevailing plea. For His name's sake great and marvellous works have been wrought (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44). When the motive in the heart of the Sovereign is the plea in the mouth of the supplicant, confidence of being accepted and heard, confidence modest, humble, reverential, and submissive, imparts joy to the heart of the petitioner, raises in his soul the expectation of hope, and makes his face to shine as if it were anointed with fresh oil. 3. A continual plea, and good throughout all generations, under all dispensations, among all nations, and in all extremities (1 Chronicles 17:21; Isaiah 63:11-16). 4. The supreme plea under which every other plea is subordinated. In the prayers and intercessions of holy men other considerations often appear. Poverty, reproach, affliction, persecution, necessity, and other things, have been pied at the throne of grace. But the name, or glory, of the Lord our God is the supreme and ruling consideration into which other pleas are to be resolved. III. Our pleading the name of the Lord for temporal good things IN THE FACE OF INIQUITY, or when it is testifying against us. In such discouraging circumstances Jeremiah pleaded. The whole body of national evil stood before him; and, with this monster appearing to his eye, and its voice roaring in his ear, he cried, "Do Thou for Thy name's sake." 1. A sense of sin strongly affects the heart and conscience before the Lord. Jeremiah is the mouth of the kingdom, and speaks like a man of feeling. He felt the weight of the public guilt, heard it crying for vengeance, and believed that the Lord was justly offended because the land was greatly defiled. This feeling is not common and natural to man. There were but few in Judah who were suitably affected with the national iniquities, and among ourselves the number of mourners is either diminished or else they are hid in corners and chambers, out of the sight of the public eye and the knowledge of one another. 2. The righteousness of the Lord, in turning away temporal good things because of iniquity, is believed and acknowledged. Of this Jeremiah was persuaded himself, and of this no mean was neglected to persuade the nation. In withering seasons, professions of the equity and justice of Providence are in every mouth; but in the lives of many who make these professions, fruit of the lips doth not appear. Fruit of this kind is found only on a few trees of righteousness, which are grafted in Christ, and raised and trained up by the spirit of holiness. 3. The iniquities which provoke the Most High to withhold, or turn away, temporal good things are acknowledged with humiliation and sorrow of heart. Concerning these Jeremiah is not silent. In his intercessory prayer confession holds a distinguished place. His exercise is exemplary, and in similar circumstances should be followed. Reigning and crying sins breaking out, whether in the higher or lower ranks of society, or in both, ought to be acknowledged to be what they are, provocations of wrath and causes of calamity. But to bring men to this reasonable duty is extremely difficult. Confession gives such a stab to self-righteousness, and such a blow to natural pride, that nothing can bring us effectually to submit to it, except the Spirit of God working by His Word in us mightily. 4. The covenant of grace is apprehended, truly and distinctly, in the light of the Word. To this covenant temporal good things are annexed, and in its administration, promises of these are performed. By the obedience, sufferings, and death of Christ, the condition is fulfilled; and in performing the promises and bestowing the blessings, both of the life which now is and of that which is to come, the justice and holiness of God glorify themselves in the highest. 5. Considerations of the obedience, blood, and intercession of Christ, are presented to the Lord, and opposed to prevailing iniquities. 6. Submission to the will and good pleasure of the Lord of all. Creatures, far less sinners, should never be peremptory in their supplications, nor prescribe to the Sovereign. Pleas for the removal of distress are furnished to us by the Word, and instructions given to use these with reverence and importunity. But beware of limiting the Sovereign, who, by calamity no less than by deliverance, can magnify Himself. IV. EXHORTATION AND INSTRUCTION. Unto men of prayer we address ourselves in the hearing of all, and through the blessing of God and the working of His Spirit, all will be corrected and instructed. 1. In your exercise and practice let a true sense of sin appear. It is not calling sin names, or fixing upon it the epithets, bagful and abominable, but hating and abhorring it, which the Lord requires. 2. Acknowledge the righteousness of God in withholding some temporal good things, which in the ordinary course of His Providence we looked for at this season. Why doth the Sovereign send upon us hail for rain, and heaps of snow instead of clouds of dew? Why doth He draw out winter to an unusual length, and fill our ear with the howling of shepherds, instead of the singing of birds? Why. do not applications to His goodness prevail? Hath He forgotten to be gracious? No. Doth His promise fail? No. Is His hand shortened, that it cannot save? No. Is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear? No. But our iniquities, let it be preached in the valleys, proclaimed in the mountains, and sounded in the dwelling places of atheism and irreligion — "Our iniquities have separated between us and our God, and our sins have hid His face from us, that He will not hear." 3. Confess unto the Lord these trespasses which are committed against Him in the midst of the land, which provoke Him to withhold good things, and which cause Him to send upon us evil things. Acknowledgment of sin, and supplication for pardon, are always mixed with the prayers and intercessions of His people for temporal good things. 4. In pleading, when iniquities testify against you, keep before you the covenant of peace, to which temporal good things are added. Unless your eye be kept upon this covenant, it will be impossible to understand how God, whose right hand is full of righteousness, glorifies Himself in accepting your persons, sustaining your pleas, fulfilling your petitions, and blessing you with good things. But if the covenant, with its condition, promises, and administration, be considered, and the place which temporal good things possess observed, every seemingly interfering interest, with respect to the perfections and glory of God, will appear to be adjusted and consolidated upon the clearest and firmest principles. 5. With the plea, and every form of the plea, for the benefits of the covenant, introduce the name and office of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having fulfilled the condition, in His obedience unto death, He is constituted, by wisdom and grace, heir, administrator, and dispenser of the blessings. 6. Be submissive and modest in pleading for temporal good things. Of the ways of the Lord we are incompetent judges; and, in all applications upon the name, should submit ourselves to His wisdom and righteousness, and leave to His good pleasure what is to be done. (A. Shanks.) Parallel Verses KJV: O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. |
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