When To Not Pray

We noted in class that God told Jeremiah to stop praying for his people:

Jeremiah 7.16 "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you..."

Jeremiah 11.14 "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress..."

Jeremiah 14.11 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of this people..."

God told Jeremiah to stop interceding for Judah, because He could not justly answer Jeremiah's prayer. It had become necessary for God to keep the terms of His covenant with the Israelites and bring upon them the curses He had promised for persistent disobedience (Deut 28-30).

God's explicit command to not pray provides a very practical lesson for us: God does not say no with silence. Remember that when God said no to Paul's prayers, it was with clear revelation:

2Corinthians 12.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Likewise, when God needs to say no to us, He will do so by unmistakable direction, not with silence. As with the Canaanite woman (Mat 15.23), the Lord's silence does not mean no, it means "keep praying until I answer"! (Compare Luke 18.1-8.)

Only stop praying when God tells you "stop!" and tells you as clearly as he told Jeremiah and Paul.