“Ah, sword of the Lord, how long till you are quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard, rest and be still!”
– Jeremiah 47:6
That verse ends with an exclamation point. This is Jeremiah watching as the sword of God’s judgment is coming upon the nations. And Jeremiah is interceding for those nations, asking God to have mercy, “Ah, sword of the Lord, how long till you are quiet?”
Jeremiah 47:6 Provides a Helpful Reminder
This picture in Jeremiah is a reminder to us of God’s call in our lives to be intercessors for people and nations, and peoples who are under the judgment of the Lord and need his mercy. We have been called to stand in the gap and to intercede on their behalf.
Are you doing that? Are you faithfully interceding for people in need of God’s mercy around you, for people who don’t know Jesus, just think of all the faces you’ll see today, or this week that you work with, that you live with, neighbors. People you meet, are we interceding for all these people and for nations?
Jeremiah 47:6 Leads Us to Pray for the Unreached
That’s the whole picture here under the judgment of God for people groups. It’s why we pray like we do for unreached peoples on this podcast and why we need to pray continually in our lives for our nation, for other nations. So let’s do it. God, we faithfully stand in the gap right now and pray for people around us who are under your judgment. God who don’t know Jesus. We pray that you would have mercy and draw them to Jesus.
God, we pray for their salvation. We pray for family members who don’t know you, for friends who don’t know you, for coworkers, for neighbors, for people that we will interact with today. God, we pray for our cities, our communities. We pray for your salvation we’ve made known to spread, for your mercy to spread. And God, as we pray for that, we pray that you would help us to be faithful and proclaiming the gospel and being the answer to that prayer, in introducing others to Jesus, knowing that as we speak only you can, one, give us boldness to share, and two, open their eyes to what we’re sharing.
Praying for Albanian Believers
God, we pray for that kind of mercy on others through us. We pray for your mercy among the nations. God, for people groups, thousands of them have yet to hear the gospel. We pray knowing they’re under your judgment, knowing they need your mercy. God caused the gospel to go to the nations, caused disciples to be made among all the nations. We pray. We pray specifically for Albanians. Many who have walked through tumultuous days in Albania are living in poverty and lack of development. And some who’ve migrated to countries like Macedonia. God, we pray for the spread of your grace and your mercy among Albanians.
We intercede today for your grace and mercy among Albanians in Albania and Macedonia, other places, maybe in communities where some of us live. God, we pray that you would have mercy upon people around us, peoples around the world who deserve your judgment just as we all do. Jesus, you’ve made salvation possible, cause your salvation to spread around us and among the nations. We pray, oh God, in your judgment, remember and show mercy. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
