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Desperation from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet, for he wept for his nation and the coming judgment the Lord had shown him. Israel had turned their backs on the Lord and served every other god under the sun. 

Spending decades under the leadership of evil kings like Manasseh led the people away from the Lord. Manasseh tried to wipe out the prophets of the Lord and encouraged, supported, and promoted idol worship throughout the land. He was the most wicked king Israel had ever known. He placed pagan idols in the temple of the Lord and even offered his children as burnt offerings.

(2 Chronicles 33:5–7 NKJV)  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God...

Evil has a payday. Eventually, the Lord had seen enough, and He rebooted the nation of Israel. The Assyrians invaded Samaria and carried the inhabitants into exile. Then the Babylonians invaded Judah and took the people living there captive. During 589–587 B.C., the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem. The people were starving and eating their own children. The siege lasted for thirty months before they took Jerusalem, sacked the city, destroyed the temple, pulled down all the walls, and took the people captive.

A part of the story that disturbs me most is what the Lord told the prophet, Jeremiah. Three times, He told Jeremiah, "Do not pray for this people, for I will not hear you..." :

(Jeremiah 7:16–17 NKJV)  "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?"

(Jeremiah 11:14 NKJV)  "So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble."

(Jeremiah 14:11 NKJV)  Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good."

It was the same as in the days of Noah when the Lord sealed the door of the ark, and the rain began to fall, it was too late for people to change their fate. The Lord had determined to reward them for their wicked behavior, and last-minute prayers would not change His mind. 

The Lord promised He would visit the Israelites after they spent seventy years in exile and would bring them back home. Then He told them this:

(Jeremiah 29:11–13 NKJV)  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Judah had become entitled, the chosen ones living in the Promised Land. No harm could befall them. Idolatry was everywhere. Sin and immorality advanced on every level. They raised a generation of people that were ignorant of God. So the Lord rebooted the nation and gave them seventy years to consider their ways. 

Yet, there is hope. When Jonah prophesied that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days, the king declared a city-wide fast and prayer vigil (Jonah 3:5). It was an act of sheer desperation:

(Jonah 3:7–8 NKJV)  And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

(Jonah 3:10 NKJV)  Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Those people were desperate. They changed their ways, and God spared them. I feel there is too little desperation for the Lord today, but He has ways of changing our attitudes. 

After the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam took the throne. He was young and dumb, and it didn't go well. Israel was originally comprised of twelve tribes, but ten broke away and formed northern Israel, Samaria. While two remained in southern Israel, Judah.

King Rehoboam gathered his army to reunite the kingdom by force, but the Lord sent a prophet and intervened. He told Rehoboam this:

(2 Chronicles 11:4 NKJV)  'Thus says the LORD: "You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.' " Therefore they obeyed the words of the LORD, and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

"This thing is from Me." What a reminder. To see the kingdom of Israel split in half had to look like the worst thing that could have ever happened, but the Lord took full credit for it. "I did this." 

I had a vivid dream/vision recently where Sylvia and I were on a high mountain looking out over a valley. I could see leaves in the distance beginning to spin and being pulled up into the air. Then a long dark funnel cloud dropped down. It became a fierce tornado and began moving toward us. 

I began praying and rebuking the storm in the name of Jesus Christ, but it kept coming. My prayers grew intense, and I was shouting at the storm. It kept coming until it swept right over us but caused no harm. I spun around as it touched down on the ground behind us, then transformed into a man. He looked back at me, flexed his shoulders, and huge white wings sprouted through his jacket. Obviously, it was an angel, and he wanted me to know that. He looked me in the eyes, and I knew His thoughts. It was: "We are on the same team." Then he walked away, and it ended. 

Not every bad thing is from the enemy, for evil has a payday. Our prayers need to line up with the Lord's will and not our fleeting feelings. May His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Our only fear should be of the Lord and not what is coming on the Earth. 

(Isaiah 8:11–13 ESV)  For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: "Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread."

(Isaiah 26:9 NKJV) ...For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

The Lord can protect His people just as the prophet Jeremiah survived the siege of Jerusalem. Daniel survived and prospered in Babylon as well. 

(Psalm 91:7–8 NKJV)  A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

Also, we could be spared like the city of Nineveh if we become desperate enough to change.

(2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Here I could list all the wickedness I see happening in our countries, but you have your own list already. So what does the Bible say about nations that turn their back on their God? Well, now you know... Evil has a payday.

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. My hope is in You. Please guide me and help me see beyond my circumstances. Enlighten my eyes and open my mind to Your Scriptures. Make what is important to You important to me. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!