Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29: 12, NKJV
Dear Lord, what a blessed assurance that You listen to us when we pray to You. Hallelujah! Amen
Yesterday we ended on the note that it was essential that we recognize the seasons. We need to recognize when our captivity has come to an end. In making this point Jesus had the following to say, “If you had known, especially you, in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19: 42-44). (Emphasis supplied). You see my friends, not knowing (recognizing) the seasons (times) can be costly. The greater tragedy, is that it could be costly, not only to us but to others as well!
God’s people, who had been reading and studying the prophecies (Luke 21: 20, 21), were prepared to act. In the year A.D. 67, the Roman general Cestus, and his troops had surrounded Jerusalem. Then, for no apparent reason, he withdrew his troops. The Christians in Jerusalem recognized that that was the time to flee. God had planned everything; neither Romans nor Jews were there to impede their flight. The Jews had gone after the general and his troops in hot pursuit, so the Christians were able to flee undisturbed.
They had been admonished to “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap….Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21: 34,36, NIV). They were watching and praying!
When we recognize the seasons then we will pray accordingly. I am sure they prayed for wisdom to know how to be circumspect. They must have prayed for faith so that they would be strong. The prayer for discernment to know when the time was right was a necessity. Surely they prayed according to Jesus’ suggestion: “Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matthew 24: 20). And when they prayed God listened and answered. Not one Christian lost his or her life in the destruction of Jerusalem!
Three years went by, and in A.D. 70, General Titus and his troops besieged the city. Everyone who had not fled at the appointed time perished under the most horrible circumstances.
It is comforting to know that when we pray, our prayers do not fall on deaf ears and we can rest assured that He who hears will answer.