‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’
Parallel Translations
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‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don’t know.’
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Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
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Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and will tell thee great things, and hidden, which thou knowest not.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 33:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 29:12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
- Isaiah 65:24 It will happen that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
- Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
- Isaiah 48:6 You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won’t you declare it? “I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.
- Psalms 91:15 He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
- Luke 11:9-10 “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.
- Psalms 50:15 Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
- Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Psalms 145:18 Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
- Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.
- Romans 10:12-13 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
- Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
- Acts 2:21 It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
- Deuteronomy 4:7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him?
- 1 Corinthians 2:7-11 But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.” But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.
- Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.
- Psalms 25:14 The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
- Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
- Matthew 13:35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
- Micah 7:15 “As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things.”
- Joel 2:32 It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.
- 1 Kings 8:47-50 yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;’ if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name; then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against you; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
- 1 Corinthians 1:2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain He afterwards adds, Cry to me, and I will…
He afterwards adds, Cry to me, and I will answer thee, and I will announce to thee things magnificent and recondite, which thou hast not known It was not so much for the sake of the Prophet as of others that this was said. For the Prophet, no doubt, had earnestly prayed, and his prison must have inflamed his ardor, so as to intercede constantly with God. God then does not here reprove his torpor or his sloth by saying, Cry to me; but as I have said, the word is so directed to the Prophet, that God excites all the godly to pray. There is indeed here an implied reproof, as though he had said that it was their fault that God did not cheer their minds with a joyful and happy message, for they had closed the door against themselves, so as to prevent God from offering them that comfort which they yet especially wished; but men, while they expect God to be propitious to them, do not yet give entrance to his grace, because they bolt up, as it were, their hearts with unbelief. We hence see why it was said, Cry to me, and I will answer thee
But this passage ought especially to be noticed; for we may hence conclude, that whenever we pine away in sorrow, or are worn out by affliction, it is our own fault, because we are tardy and slow to pray: for every one who cries acknowledges that God is always nigh, as he promises in the Psalms, to those who truly call on him. That we are then sometimes worn out with long grief, and no comfort given to us, this happens, let us know, through our neglect and sloth, because we cry not to God, who is ever ready to answer us, as he here promises.
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And he says, I will declare to thee great things, and of hidden things thou knowest not So are the words literally; but they cannot be thus suitably rendered: then we may read, “and things hidden which thou knowest not,” or, “I will make thee acquainted with hidden things which are unknown to thee.” It may, however, be asked, why God called those things hidden, of which Jeremiah had already prophesied? The answer is obvious, — that they had, as it were, made void all the promises of God, and the holy man might, have been even confounded, when he saw that God’s favor was thus rejected; for it was reasonable to conclude, that as the people obstinately rejected the hope of deliverance, it was all over with them, and that their condition was, as it were, hopeless. We hence see that those things are often hidden to us which God has again and again made known to us; for either they do not immediately penetrate into our minds, or the memory of them is extinguished, or faith is not so vigorous in us as it ought to be, or we are disturbed and confounded by obstacles thrown in our way.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer…
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Ver. 3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee.] Thou hast a promise, and I will perform it; but so as that thou Jeremiah, and such as thou art, Daniel, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, &c., pray over the promise. The angel told Daniel he came for his prayer’s sake. {Jer 10:12}
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And show thee great and mighty things.] Or, Abstruse and reserved things. God’s praying people get to know much of his mind above others; like as John, by weeping, got the book opened; and Daniel, by prayer, had the king’s secret revealed unto him in a night vision. {Dan 2:18-19} Bene orasse, est bene studuisse, said Luther; who, because he had much communion with God by prayer, so holy truths were daily more and more made known unto him, he knew not how nor which way, as himself said.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain God either speaketh to the people to pray unto…
God either speaketh to the people to pray unto him, or to the prophet on the behalf of the people to pray, promising him he would show him great things.
Object. But how doth God say that Jeremiah did not know them, when God before this time had revealed them to the prophet, and the prophet had revealed them?
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Solut. He did not know them before God had revealed them, and though God had revealed them, yet by his prayer in the former chapter it appears he did not fully understand them, or firmly believe them as he ought to have done.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Call unto me, and I will answer thee,.... This…
Call unto me, and I will answer thee,.... This is spoken not to Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it; but to the prophet, encouraging him to seek the Lord by prayer, promising an answer to him. So the Targum,
"pray before me, and I will receive thy prayer:''
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and show thee great and mighty things; or, "fortified ones" (p); which are like fortified cities, that cannot easily be come at, unless the gates are opened to enter into; and designs such as are difficult of understanding, which exceed human belief, and which reason cannot comprehend and take in; and such are the great things of the Gospel. Some copies read it, "things reserved" (q); as the Targum; and so Jarchi, who interprets it of things future, of things reserved in the heart of God, and which he purposed to do; and very rightly:
which thou knowest not; until revealed; and from hence it appears, that by these great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, and the seventy years' captivity, and return from that, things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but spiritual blessings hereafter mentioned, some of which the deliverance from Babylon were typical of Ben Melech interprets these of comforts great and strong.
(p) "munita", Vatablus, Paganinus, Montanus; "fortia", Tigurine version. (q) "abstrusa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "recondita", so some in Vatablus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Call unto me, and I will answer…
Verse 3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee] To me alone it belongs to reveal what is future; and the stupendous things which are now coming are known only to myself. These idolaters go to their gods to get information relative to the issue of the present commotions; but there is no light in them. Ask thou, O Jeremiah, and I will tell thee the great and mighty things which even thou knowest not.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jer 33:3. Call unto me, and I will answer…
Jer 33:3. Call unto me, and I will answer thee — An expression manifesting God’s favour and loving kindness; that he was ready to comply with the first intimations of his servant’s desires. Compare Jer 29:12. God, by thus directing his discourse to Jeremiah, not only signified his kindness toward him, but likewise the affection he still bore to his people, for, whom this prophet so earnestly interceded, and whose welfare he had so much at heart. And show thee great and mighty things — That is, give thee a clear and full prospect of them. Hebrew, גדלות ובצרות, great and abstruse, or, hidden things, as some render the words; which thou knowest not — And canst not know without further revelation, meaning, probably, not only what related to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, but likewise the blessings to be conferred upon them in the times of the Messiah.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Mighty things - Or, as in the margin. The…
Mighty things - Or, as in the margin. The words are probably a quotation from Isa 48:6.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Cry. The prophetic spirit was sometimes granted to earnest…
Cry. The prophetic spirit was sometimes granted to earnest prayer, Daniel ix. 2., and x. 3.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Call . . . I will answer-- (Jer 29:12;…
Call . . . I will answer-- (Jer 29:12; Psa 91:15). Jeremiah, as the representative of the people of God, is urged by God to pray for that which God has determined to grant; namely, the restoration. God's promises are not to slacken, but to quicken the prayers of His people (Psa 132:13, Psa 132:17; Isa 62:6-7).
mighty things--Hebrew, "inaccessible things," that is, incredible, hard to man's understanding [MAURER], namely, the restoration of the Jews, an event despaired of. "Hidden," or "recondite" [PISCATOR].
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thou knowest not--Yet God had revealed those things to Jeremiah, but the unbelief of the people in rejecting the grace of God had caused him to forget God's promise, as though the case of the people admitted of no remedy.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Mighty things — Literally, things fortified, that is,…
3. Mighty things — Literally, things fortified, that is, inaccessible, hard to be found out. Ewald conjectures, that in the original word one letter, nun, (נ,) has been changed into another, beth, (ב.) If this be true (which is by no means necessary) the reading would be hidden.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. great things, and difficult] mg. Heb. fenced in.…
3. great things, and difficult] mg. Heb. fenced in. The word means lit. cut off, inaccessible. But certain MSS. of MT., not apparently supported, however, by LXX, read probably rightly (differing only by one letter, nĕtsûroth for bĕtsûroth) hidden, as in Isa_48:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ver. 3. Mighty things; rather, secret things (literally, inaccessible).…
Ver. 3. Mighty things; rather, secret things (literally, inaccessible). It must be admitted that this introduction hardly corresponds to the sequel, which does not contain any special secrets, as we should have thought. Either vers. 2, 3 have been inserted by a later (inspired) editor, whose mind was absorbed in high thoughts of the latter days for this view may be urged the style and phraseology, which are hardly those of the surrounding chapters, hardly those of Jeremiah; or else we must adopt Hengstenberg"s perhaps over subtle suggestion, which, however, does not touch the question of the phraseology, "that throughout Scripture dead knowledge is not regarded as knowledge; that the hope of restoration had, in the natural man, in the prophet, as well as in all believers, an enemy who strove to darken and extinguish it; that therefore it was ever new," or, in the words of Jeremiah, "great and secret things, which thou knowest not.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Ver. 3. The reasonableness of prayer.
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"Call upon me, and I will answer thee" etc. This is one of the blessed promises of God given for the help of sorrowful and struggling men. None but God knows how many have been helped by it and by the glorious throng of Divine words which are like unto it, or how often, or how mightily. "Ah! you think so," replies a voice not unfrequently nor too modestly heard in these days. "Tis the voice of the disciples of science, which says, "Yes; you religious people think God answers your prayers and hears you when you call upon him; but really it is no such thing; it is all a mistake, and, what is more, you ought to know and confess it, and therefore give over what you are pleased to call your prayers. Prayer! how is such a thing possible in a universe governed everywhere by fixed laws as ours is? Where in such an order is there room for what you call "answers to prayer"? It is scientifically impossible, not to say absurd, and the marvel is that people don"t see this." So speak, and some of them with far more of arrogance and scorn than now represented, not a few of the scientists of the day. The calling upon God in the day of trouble is nothing more, so one of the most distinguished of modern philosophers has said, than the piteous cry of the hare when she knows that the hounds are upon her. A bitter cry of distress wrung out from the soul. It is thought by those who utter it to go up to God, and that God will hear it and help; but that is all a vain imagination; it goes out into mere space; nothing does come of it, and nothing can. This is what is said, and it is based upon the observed uniformity and inflexibility of law. All science is built up upon this faith of the unbroken order and regularity of law, and without it there could be no science, and indeed no life at all. The reign of law is everywhere; how then can prayer be reasonable? and where is there room for those Divine interpositions which prayer asks for and thinks it receives? What is the use, then, of the mother weeping her heart out in her prayers that God would give back the health of her beloved child? What the use of national fasts and days of prayer for rain, for removal of pestilence, for restoration of the health of princes, and the like? If these things lie in the order of fixed law, they will come to pass without any prayer; if not, they will not be in spite of all the prayers of all the Churches in all the world. Now, this is what is so loudly and largely being said on all sides. What have we to reply? Has the Christian preacher nought to urge on the other side? We think he has. He has a right to ask the scientists such questions as these
I HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED ALL GOD"S FIXED LAWS? Are you quite sure that nowhere there may be some law which shall provide for these results which Christians call "answers to prayer"? We are bound to be grateful for the magnificent discoveries of the laws of the universe which science has already made. But has it discovered all these laws? and if not, why amongst those as yet undiscovered ones may there not be that which the Christian needs to justify his prayer? It is the same argument as John Foster urges against the atheistic doctrine that there is no God! "What ages and lights are requisite for this attainment, the knowing that there is no God! This intelligence involves the very attributes of divinity, while a God is denied. For unless this man is omnipresent, unless he is at this moment in every place in the universe, he cannot know but that in some place there may be manifestations of a Deity by which even he would be overpowered Unless he knows all things, that is, precludes another deity by being one himself, he cannot know that the Being whose existence he rejects does not exist." Now, in like manner, the Christian may meet the scientific unbeliever by asking him whether he has traced every effect up to its cause. May not, then, the cause you do not know be the one which meets the Christian"s need and secures answer to his legitimate prayers?
II WHAT MORE RIGHT HAS SCIENCE TO REJECT THE FACTS FROM WHICH THE CHRISTIAN DEDUCES HIS DOCTRINE THAT GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, THAN THE CHRISTIAN HAS TO REJECT THE FACTS UPON WHICH SCIENCE BASES HER DOCTRINE OF INVARIABLE LAW? Science marshals her facts. They are a goodly array, and drawn from all departments of creation, animate and inanimate; from all kinds of living organisms, whether animal or vegetable; and they have forced upon you, we readily admit, the conviction of the universality and invariability of natural law. Christians are bound to believe you. We are not going to question your facts, though we may some of your inferences from them. Let your facts once be proved to be facts, as so many of them have been, and we will candidly accept them. Yes, though they compel us to set aside some old and cherished interpretations of Scripture, and to confess that we have read our Bibles wrongly in more than one instance. We trust you in your statement of facts; we believe you to be good men and true. Now we turn and ask you to deal with us and our facts in like manner. For we, too, have facts from which we have drawn the conclusion that, let prayer be according to the will of God, he will assuredly answer it. Some of our facts which have much force with us you perhaps would not admit, since you would explain them on the ground of mere coincidence, and we could not prove that, apart from prayer, they could not have been. E.g. persons in distress have called upon God; relief has unexpectedly come and in very remarkable ways. The believer looks on such instances as answers to prayer; nothing can persuade him that they are not. Still, it cannot be denied that they may have occurred without such prayer. Other such instances are those in which life despaired of has been given back in answer to, or in connection with, fervent prayer for such restoration; as the Prince of Wales"s recovery in 1872. Now, this recovery might have been we cannot prove that it could not apart from prayer, and therefore, whilst these instances are very convincing to the believer, they are not so to others. But there are facts concerning which we can say they are valid for our argument, because they never have occurred and never do occur, apart from prayer. e.g. in the coming away of any soul from its attachment to the world to surrender itself in trust and love to Christ that which is called conversion; was this ever known apart from prayer? Did ever any find the Lord without seeking himi.e without prayer? Also in the ordinary conduct of the Christian life, who among us is able to keep his garments unspotted from the world, to overcome besetting sin, to confront and conquer temptation, to preserve the hands clean and the heart pure, without continual prayer? Again, who are they that have attained to a high degree of spiritual life and vigour, to whom it is their habit to walk with God; who "rejoice in the Lord always;" who are God"s saints indeed, the very elect, about whose being born of God we have no doubt? Now, every one of these will tell you that they owed their all to the habit their Lord enabled them to maintain of constant prayer. Press on in thought to the realms of the blest, move up and down amid the throng of God"s redeemed; is there one who has or could have attained that blessedness if on earth he had not sought God in prayer and called on the Name of the Lord? So with any really living Church, a Church that is a power for good, a blessing to the neighbourhood, a Church at peace, at work, and blessed with the prosperity of God, is the life of such a Church ever possible apart from this same power of prayer? Its life is nurtured, not by its wealth, numbers, rank, culture, intellect, eloquence, or any such gifts, but by its prayers. All the rest would let it starve; by prayer alone it lives. One other instance the winning of our children for God. Does any parent or teacher ever secure this great joy without prayer? Never. Such are our facts; in them we are sure that God answers prayer; and hence we believe also that in the material world he does the same. And as we receive the facts of science, so we ask that our facts may be received likewise.
III IS NOT GOD OUR FATHER? The scientific hypothesis denies his fatherhood, if not his very existence altogether. If he do exist, he is, according to the scientist, so enclosed in his own laws and in the visible adjustment of things that he has no room for freedom of choice, for exercise of will. Like the mainspring of a watch, he is shut up in his own works, and can only act in one given way. Or, like the locomotives on our railways, he must keep to the rigid appointed iron track, and not swerve therefrom in the least. But that is not our conception of God. We believe him to have a mind, a will, a heart; and hence we conclude that, like the best earthly parents, whilst keeping ever in view the true welfare of his children, he yet allows himself, within those limits, freedom of action as may seem to him wisest and best. Now, within these limits there is room for prayer and room for answers to prayer. We cannot believe him to be so tied down by his physical laws that, when it is consistent with the highest good of his children, and yet more when it is necessary for that good, he is unable to modify or alter them even though he would. A God so bound by physical law is really no God, and the creed of the atheist will alone harmonize with the assertions of science. If there be a God, he must be a personal God; but if he be a Person, then he must have will, the power of choice; but if he have will, he must be able to modify the action of his laws, as we can and do continually; and if he be our Father, as we believe, then we need not doubt that the fervent believing prayer of his children will avail much to induce him to modify his laws for our good. And hence we maintain that it is good to call upon him, and that he is nigh unto such and will save them. Prayer, then, is not unreasonable if there be a God; not unreasonable if we adopt the very methods of science itself, and deduce our doctrine from our facts; not unreasonable, unless it can be shown that science is aware of and has registered every fixed law of God. C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Call unto Me, and I win answer thee.
Jer_33:3
Call unto Me, and I win answer thee.
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An invitation a promise-a revelation
I. A gracious invitation--Call unto Me implies all the constituents of successful prayer.
1. Penitence.
2. Contrition.
3. Humility.
4. Importunity.
5. Restitution.
6. Faith.
II. A precious promise--And I will answer thee. The invitation accepted, its conditions complied with, always brings the answer.
1. Gods word pledged.
2. Gods nature pledged.
3. Confirmed by the experience of His saints.
III. A glorious revelation--And will shew thee, &c.
1. The greatness of Gods love.
2. The power of Jesus to forgive sin.
3. The worth of the soul.
4. The joys and comforts of religion.
5. The victory of faith in death. (J. T. Davies.)
Prayer
I. The invitation to prayer.
1. Whose is it?
2. To whom is the invitation addressed?
3. What is the tenor of the invitation?
II. The promise.
1. It is general.
2. It is special. Apply
(1) Reprove the prayerless.
(2) Encourage the prayerful. (G. Brooks.)
The golden key of prayer
God s people have always in their worst conditions found out the best of their God. Those who dive into the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.
I. Prayer commanded.
1. This is great condescension. So great is the infatuation of man on the one hand, which makes him need a command to be merciful to his own soul, and so marvellous the condescension of God on the other that He issues a command of love.
2. Our hearts so despond over our unfitness and guilt that but for the command we might fear to approach.
3. It is remarkable how much more frequently God calls us to Him in Scripture than we find there our sinfulness denounced!
4. Nor by the commands of the Bible alone are we summoned to prayer, but by the motions of His Holy Spirit.
II. An answer promised.
1. Gods very nature, as revealed in Jesus Christ, assures us that He will accept us in prayer.
2. Our own experience leads us to believe that God will answer prayer; e.g., the conversion of many a child has been an answer to parents pleadings with God.
3. Yet God does not always give the thing we ask. Lord Bolingbroke said to the Countess of Huntingdon, I cannot understand, your ladyship, how you can make out earnest prayer to be consistent with submission to the Divine will. My lord, she said, that is a matter of no difficulty. If I were a courtier of some generous king, and he gave me permission to ask any favour I pleased of him, I should be sure to put it thus: Will your majesty be graciously pleased to grant me such and such a favour; but at the same time, though I much desire it, if it would in any way detract from your majestys honour, or if in your majestys judgment it should seem better that I did not have this favour, I shall be quite as content to go without it as to receive it. So you see I might earnestly offer a petition, and yet might submissively leave it with the king.
III. Encouragement to faith.
1. Promised to Gods prophet, this specially applies to every teacher. The best way for a teacher or learner in Divine truth to reach the deeper things of God is to be much in prayer. Luther says, Bene orare est bene studuisse--To have prayed well is to have studied well
2. The saint may expect to discover deeper experience and to know more of the higher spiritual life, by being much in prayer.
3. It is certainly true of the sufferer under trial; if he waits on God he shall have greater deliverance than he ever dreamed of (Lam_3:57).
4. Here is encouragement for the worker. We know not how much capacity for usefulness there is in us. More prayer will show us more power.
5. This should cheer us in intercession for others.
6. Some are seekers for your own conversion. Pray, and see if God will not show you great and mighty things. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Prayer encouraged
The text belongs to every afflicted servant of God. It encourages him in a threefold manner.
I. To continue in prayer. Call unto Me!
1. Pray, though you have prayed (see Jer_32:16, &c.).
2. Pray concerning your present trouble. In Jer_32:24, the prophet mentions the mounts which were raised against Jerusalem, and in Jer_32:4 of this chapter the Lord answers on that very point.
3. Pray though you are still in prison after prayer. If deliverance tarries, make your prayers the more importunate.
4. Pray; for the Word of the Lord comes to you with this command.
5. Pray; for the Holy Spirit prompts you, and helps you.
II. To expect answers to prayer. I will answer thee, and shew thee.
1. He has appointed prayer, and made arrangements for its presentation and acceptance. He could not have meant it to be a mere farce: that were to treat us as fools.
2. He prompts, encourages, and quickens prayer; and surely He would never mock us by exciting desires which He never meant to gratify.
3. His nature is such that He must hear His children.
4. He has given His promise in the text; and it is often repeated elsewhere: He cannot lie, or deny Himself.
5. He has already answered many of His people, and ourselves also.
III. To expect great things as answers to prayer, I will shew thee great and mighty things We are to look for things--
1. Great in counsel; full of wisdom and significance
2. Mighty in work; revealing might, and mightily effectual.
3. New things to ourselves, fresh in our experience and therefore surprising. We may expect the unexpected.
4. Divine things: I will shew thee.
(1) Health and cure (Jer_32:6).
(2) Liberation from captivity (Jer_32:7).
(3) Forgiveness of iniquity (Jer_32:8). (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Prayer and its answer
A young engineer was being examined, and this question was put to him: Suppose you have a steam-pump constructed for a ship, under your own supervision, and know that everything is in perfect order, yet, when you throw out the hose, it will not draw; what should you think? I should think, sir, there must be a defect somewhere. But such a conclusion is not admissible; for the supposition is that everything is perfect, and yet that the pump will not work. Then, sir, replied the student, I should look over the side of the ship to see if the river had run dry. Even so it would appear that if true prayer is not answered the nature of God must have changed.
Instant in prayer
Sir Walter Raleigh one day asking a favour from Queen Elizabeth, the latter said to him, Raleigh, when will you leave off begging? To which he answered, When your Majesty leaves off giving. Ask-great things of God. Expect great things from God. Let His past goodness make us instant in prayer.
Prayer the souls wings
Thomas Brooks, alluding to the old classical myth of Daedalus, who, being imprisoned in the island of Crete, made wings for himself, by which he escaped to Italy, says, Christians must do as Daedalus, who, when he could not escape by a way upon earth, went by a way of heaven. Holy prayers are the wings of the souls deliverance. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Calling unto God
What is this calling unto God? Is it a verbal exercise? Is it a mere act of exclamation! Nothing can be further from the meaning. It is a call that issues from the heart; it is the call of need, it is the cry of pain, it is the agony of desire, it is enclosure with God in profound and loving communion. If we have received no answers, it is because we have offered no prayers. Ye have not because ye ask not or because ye ask amiss, you have been praying obliquely instead of directly; you have been vexing yourselves with circumlocution when your words ought to have been direct appeals, sharp, short, urgent appeals to Heaven: to such appeals God sends down richness of dew, wealth of blessing, morning brighter than noonday. God will shew His people great and mighty things. There is nothing little. The bird in the heavens upon its trembling wing is only little to us, it is not little to God. He counts the drops of dew, He puts our tears into His bottle, He numbers our sighs, and as for our groans, He distinguishes one from the other; these are not little things to Him, they are only little to our ignorance, and folly, and superficiality. God looks at souls, faces, lives, destinies, and the least child in the world He rocks to sleep and wakes in the morning, as if He had nought else to do; it is the stoop of Fatherhood, it is the mystery of the Cross. As to these continual revelations, they ought to be possible. God is infinite and eternal, man is infinite and transient in all his earthly relationships; it would he strange if God had told man everything He has to tell him, it would be the miracle of miracles that God had exhausted Himself in one effort, it would be incredible that the eternal God had crushed into the moment which we call time every thought that makes Him God. Greater things than these shall ye do; when He, the Paraclete, is come, He will guide you into all truth; grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; add to your faith, until you scaffold yourselves up into brotherly love and charity, for from that pinnacle the next step is right into heaven. The question is, Are we in need of further revelation? Do we call for it? We may call for it speculatively, and no answer will he given; we may ask for it for the sake of mere intellectual delectation, and the heavens will be dumb and frowning: but if we try to outgrow God, then we shall know what God is in reality; He challenges the sacred rivalry, He appeals to our emulation to follow Him and study Him, and try to comprehend Him, and then how like a horizon He is, for we think we can touch Him in yonder top, but having climbed the steep the horizon is still beyond. To cleverness God has nothing to say; to vanity He is scornfully inhospitable; but to the broken heart, to the contrite spirit and the willing mind, to filial, tender, devout, obedience, He will give Himself in infinite and continual donation: To this man will I look, for I see My own image in him, My own purpose is vitalised in his experience--the man who is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at My word, not in servility, but in rapture and wonder at its grandeur and tenderness. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Gods gracious answers to our prayers
When poor men make requests to us we usually answer them as the echo does the voice; the answer cuts off half the petition. We shall seldom find among men Jaels courtesy, giving milk to those that ask water, except it be, as this was, an entangling benefit, the better to introduce a mischief. There are not many Naamans among us, that, when you beg of them one talent, will force you to take two; but Gods answer to our prayers is like a multiplying glass, which renders the request much greater in the answer than it was in the prayer. (J. Reynolds.)
Answers to prayer should be eagerly expected
One of the heathen poets speaks of Jupiter throwing certain prayers to the winds,--dispersing them in empty air. It is sad to think that we often do that for ourselves. What would you think of a man who had written and folded and sealed and addressed a letter, flinging it out into the street and thinking no more about it? Sailors in foundering ships sometimes commit notes in sealed bottles to the waves for the chance of them being some day washed on some shore. Sir John Franklins companions among the snows, and Captain Allen Gardiner dying of hunger in his cove, wrote words they could not be sure anyone would ever read. But we do not need to think of our prayers as random messages. We should therefore look for a reply to them and watch to get it. (J. Edmond.)
And shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.--
Prevailing prayer
There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, I will shew thee great and fortified things. Another, Great and reserved things. Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of believers. We have not all the higher privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagles eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy. By his strength he had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto Him: he found Him in Bethel, and there He spake with us. Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing, and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of our Lord, as He is, so are we also in this world. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.