Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”

Jeremiah 37:3

But I was stopped by one phrase: “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”

It seems like a humbling request, doesn’t it? It’s humbling to admit you need God’s intervention in your situation, and even more humbling to ask someone you know to be a godly person to pray for you.

But let’s look at the previous verse.

But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the LORD said through Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 37:2

My thoughts about these two verses:

• Why would Zedekiah pray to God when He had no plans to or obey what He says?

Warren Wiersbe says, “Zedekiah wanted the intercession of the man of God, but not the instruction of the Word of God.”

Then Wiersbe asked, “Do you ask God for help only in emergencies, or do you seek His direction each day?”

Wiersbe and I were thinking along the same lines, the conviction fell as I read his question.

My job is to pray and obey.

An uncle was installed as king.

Then the king of Babylon installed Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, as the next king, and he changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.
2 Kings 24:17

Am I more interested in intersession rather than instruction?