I sat not in the assembly
of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast
filled me with indignation. – Jeremiah 15:17
I sat alone. There is perhaps
nothing more difficult, and simultaneously more beneficial to the world today than
the resolve to sit alone. Hastening to a
place of absolute reliance and total surrender to Almighty God, until you are:
called, cleansed, converted, filled and sent by the Holy Ghost; to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Cut off from anything and everything in
this world that would fabricate joy, imitate love, and propagate unrighteousness. Married to Christ, faithful and in total dependence
on Him.
A renown Jewish scholar once said, “the prophet, by the very nature of his calling, is a tragic figure.” This was certainly true in the case of
Jeremiah. Here is a man, called by God,
to proclaim the uncomfortable truth to a nation. A nation who had left God to serve to
idols. To serve themselves. As Jeremiah told them of their rebellion, and
preached to them judgment, this brought reproach and derision. He did not seek out solitude, he did not
desire isolation, it came to him in natural course. It came to him because he loved the will of
God more than the praise of men, and the consequent result was isolation. He sat alone.
This was not by choice, but by divine right. Jeremiah testified, “thou hast filled me with indignation.” There was a righteous anger that was
kindled in him, wrought by a righteous God who was angry. Jeremiah’s love for God created in him an
equal hatred for the ungodly. For if he
loves what God loves, does it not follow that he hates what God hates? Not the person who was ungodly mind you, but
the practice of ungodliness. This drove
him to sit alone. He rejected the mockers
and could not rejoice as they did. He could
not find pleasure in their entertainment.
He could not seek happiness in their attractions. The very culture of sin was utterly offensive
to him. He testified: “Then I said, I will not make mention of
him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a
burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could
not stay.” With a fire such as this
burning in his bones, how could he sit with sin? How could he keep company with unbelievers? I ask you, how is it that God’s prophets couldn’t
get along with the world, God’s Son couldn’t get along with the world, God’s
apostles couldn’t get along with the world; but God’s people today are right in
step with them? A fire is polarizing. The red-hot blaze draws and dispels simultaneously;
or it dies. This is the tragedy of the
prophet. With unwavering love, he looks
out on a pleasure mad, sin infused world and calls them to repentance. Yet in that calling their must be a forced
conflict, and in that conflict a consequential acceptance or rejection. Thus, you find the man alone, with but God as
his company. I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with
indignation. A love for what God loves, and a hatred for what God hates will
cause God’s people to sit alone. If this
is true, then in American today we either have an unprecedented revival on our
hands with millions accepting Christ, or we have an unparalleled hypocrisy, with
millions accepting the world.
God, by your grace send us more prophet’s in American. Lord help us to hate sin as much as we say we
love God. Let the rise of wickedness in
this land be met with a flight to prayer, and serious pious living. Would to God that the Holy Spirit kindle a
fire in us that is polarizing. Holy
Father let our preaching be like that of the Holy Son: Spirit filled, God led,
and full of crisis. If we be found
sitting alone, with only you as our companion, help us to embrace that tragedy
sooner than we would embrace the travesty that is the world today. Amen.
