We sympathize with those in Judah at the time of Jeremiah who suffer so profoundly. People are slain, consumed by hunger, and in exile. It is very easy at such times to pray from the motivation of deserving better. This isn't such a bad thing to do. But there is a better option. We consider ourselves as undeserving.
We recognize, O LORD, our wickedness,
the guilt of our fathers;
that we have sinned against you.
We pray using the LORD's own goodness, as it were, against him.
For your name's sake spurn us not,
disgrace not the throne of your glory;
remember your covenant with us, and break it not.
God, you are not the way worldly circumstances make you seem to be. Change the circumstances and show the world who you really are. Show them that you don't delight in death or suffering but long to heal and restore.
Of course he won't force people to act one way or another. He won't change the children of the Evil One to be his children without their consent. This means that circumstances will never be quite as good as we hope. They will never fully reveal God's goodness in this age and this life. But God does choose to intervene miraculously precisely to make the point that he is over and above these circumstances. He is the deeper truth toward which all things are heading. He heals in this life precisely so that we see more of what the life to come is meant to be. And it is through this that many who seemed to be mere weeds prove to be wheat after all. His mercy and his mighty deeds steer the ages onward toward the Kingdom.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun
in the Kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.
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