Jeremiah 15:16 is one of my favorite passages, I know, I say that a lot. I pray this passage for the men who are going through my workshops, I pray this for my kids.
This morning we were in chapters 14 and 15. The context of 15:16 makes the verse so much more powerful. Jeremiah is at odds with the rulers, the priests, the prophets, and the people who have turned their backs on the Word of God and by extension, God himself. It is in that milieu that Jeremiah makes this statement. In face of the resistance that he was encountering, that statement is astounding. But verse 17 makes it even more astounding.
Look at the second phrase in verse 17, "because of your hand upon me I sat alone." Whoa. Not only was he committed and delighting in the Word in the face of a culture that was adamantly opposed to that Word, but that commitment completely isolated him. He was literally alone against his world.
If Jeremiah were to gauge the effectiveness of his ministry by the number of people who responded to his message he would have quit in despair. But his effectiveness was not a function of measurable response. Rather, Jeremiah's effectiveness was measured by whether he was doing what God wanted him to do. That was all that mattered.
There have been many times that I have been tempted and have measured how I was doing in efforts to reach my kids or other men by how they respond. Wrong measure. Like for Jeremiah, the right one is am I or did I do what God wanted me to do.
The tacit assumption is that I have asked in the first place.
Look at the second phrase in verse 17, "because of your hand upon me I sat alone." Whoa. Not only was he committed and delighting in the Word in the face of a culture that was adamantly opposed to that Word, but that commitment completely isolated him. He was literally alone against his world.
If Jeremiah were to gauge the effectiveness of his ministry by the number of people who responded to his message he would have quit in despair. But his effectiveness was not a function of measurable response. Rather, Jeremiah's effectiveness was measured by whether he was doing what God wanted him to do. That was all that mattered.
There have been many times that I have been tempted and have measured how I was doing in efforts to reach my kids or other men by how they respond. Wrong measure. Like for Jeremiah, the right one is am I or did I do what God wanted me to do.
The tacit assumption is that I have asked in the first place.
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