Jeremiah the prophet recorded at least eighteen of his prayers. I noticed this in my recent reading of the book named for him. In this article I present some observations about his prayers. They are relatively short compared to other Bible prayers, such as in Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9. Speaking of short, one of the shortest prayers in all of the Bible is: “Amen, LORD.” (Jeremiah 11:5)

Who would not want to pray as Jeremiah did in chapter 32:26, “Nothing is too hard for you,” referring to the LORD God. Yet, are we to pray as the prophet pleaded in 17:18, “Bring on [my persecutors] the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction?”

Jeremiah’s shortest prayer raises the question what is prayer because, “Amen, LORD,” is a statement of agreement. It is not an explicit praise or request. The two words affirmed what God promised to do if his people obeyed him and did everything he commanded. (11:1-5)

Prayer can be described as a conversation between God and people. We see this in chapter one when God called Jeremiah to be a prophet while a young man. God talked to Jeremiah and he replied to the LORD. He tried to excuse himself from the call by claiming he didn’t know how to talk as a prophet. The chapter reads as a conversation.

Prayer can be a conversation, but many people think or feel it’s more than that, and it surely can be. The chapter one “prayer conversation” shows that such a prayer is a serious exchange between God and a human. God seriously expected Jeremiah to be his prophet even if the young man tried to deflect the call. The other serious elements in the conversation include God’s announcement of judgment on Judah, hardships for Jeremiah, and the promises that God would be with Jeremiah and rescue him. Jeremiah embraced the call and chapter two comes across as the beginning of his, “Yes.”

An impressive element of Jeremiah’s prayers is what he says about God. “You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you.” (12:1) “Although our sins testify against us, O LORD, do something for the sake of your name…O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress.” (14:7-8) “You understand, O LORD; remember me and care for me…You are long-suffering—do not take me away.” (15:15) “O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress.” (16:19) “O LORD, the hope of Israel…the spring of living water.” (17:13) “Sing to the LORD! Give praise to the LORD! He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked.” (20:13) “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (32:17)

Yet in the midst of Jeremiah’s lofty exaltation of God, complaints fill several of the prophet’s prayers. (12:1; 14:8; 15:18; 17:15) The hardships that the LORD told him about happened and got under his skin. Discouragement and despair arose in his heart.

I’m reminded that the Bible reader is warned about complaining like the Israelites did in the wilderness after escaping Egypt. (Exodus 17:3-7; 1 Corinthians 10:9) Conversations with God must include our complaints if we’re going to be truly honest with our Creator and Lord. Jeremiah accused the LORD, “you deceived me, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed,” (20:7) God is stunningly patient with his prophet’s grievances. 

The emotional state of God’s spokesman leads to another recurring theme in his prayers. Several of Jeremiah’s prayers contain pleas for God’s vengeance on his mockers and persecutors. (12:20; 12:3; 15:15; 17:18) These kinds of requests raise the eyebrows of followers of Jesus Christ. They appear so contrary to Jesus’s teachings and example.

I spoke about this recently to the men in the local state prison chapel service. My point was that we must be honest with our true thoughts and feelings. The sooner we learn to pray the way Jeremiah did, the sooner we can arrive at the Christ-like way to think and pray for our enemies. If we don’t put our anger and complaints into God’s hands, then we will remain bitter, vengeful, hateful, and we will become our own law. Let’s be truthful with God about how we feel and what we want done to our enemies. Make our prayers our whipping post, our spittoon, or punching bag instead of taking vengeance into our own hands. I can’t find a single instance in the Book of Jeremiah where he took it upon himself to physically attack and harm those he pleaded for God to avenge.

At the end of the PBS series The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes tells his special lady friend that he met an old, wise priest in the prison in Chateau d’If. The old man told Dantes, “If you’re planning revenge, dig your own grave first.” Jeremiah didn’t dig his grave, because he turned all his anger, distress, and injustices suffered over to the Great Judge of all men.

Jeremiah believed God to be the righteous Judge, “Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.” (32:19) Related to this theme, he admitted, “you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.” (17:16) May we learn that if God knows us, he also knows our enemies just as well.

We are of like human nature as Jeremiah was, and he told God how much he wanted something to be done to his enemies. Yet he never took vengeance into his own hands. He trusted God to do something to thwart the mockers and persecutors. Jesus knew Jeremiah’s pleas for vengeance, but he went a step deeper into God’s nature and taught his followers to convert their painful, emotional agony into blessing “those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:28)

The Lord Jesus’s prayer on the cross is the epitome of God’s heart for wicked and harmful people, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) We learn many things from Jeremiah’s prayers: who and what God is, to take our whole heart to God in prayer, and to put all the anger and rage at our enemies into the Great Judge’s hand. He will place our cases on his docket when he sees fit. Until then, may the Lord Jesus help us think and pray about enemies as he did for his enemies.