“Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.” (Matt. 17:17)
“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.” (Jer. 20:9)
Sound the same? Hard to tell if these were spoken with the same attitude or not? Not really, Jesus got fed up, sick and tired of the people for a moment, just like Jeremiah did, teach them, offer them truth, show them the way, and they remain simple minded, as they say, they had no concern about anything but their own little lives, their own needs, their own desires and wants.
I have been thinking about these verses along with Proverbs 1, how the simple minded will be laughed at by the Lord (Prov. 1:26) how when their problems and tribulations arrive He will do nothing for them, and I have come to the determination that those He speaks of here are going to remain that way. Both of these verses that this letter to you opened with show to those with eyes to see and ears to hear two individuals who are sick and tired of having to be around the simple minded, those who either think of very little outside of themselves or did not possess the wisdom to see past the moment.
They seem more than rude, they seem uncaring. It is why you will not find much expository thoughts on these verses, and I could be wrong, but I doubt very much that your pastor has ever preached on them. The first part of both of them speaks of great frustration, Jesus with His words to the crowd, Jeremiah with his words to himself. It is similar to the old saying, “Give them books, and they still won’t learn.” “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Prov. 4:7)
The wisdom that can only come from the Lord is the only thing that will allow us to see these truths, that men of God sent by God get more than just a little frustrated at times, they get downright upset with these people, they just continually refuse to see, to accept in faith, and then love takes over, compassion begins to lift up its head, and Jesus says, “Bring him hither,” Jeremiah says, “But I could not stay.”
Men of wisdom will not quit, for we see these masses of humanity in a light that only God can shine into our hearts, we see the simple minded, and we love them.
I believe the reason that some individuals do not fervently and earnestly pray for wisdom is that they do not want it, they may say they do, but deep inside of them they fear it. It means that you are asking to become a part of the fellowship of His suffering, that you want to become a companion of grief and sorrow, that you want to know Christ far beyond what others see Him as, you want to walk with the suffering servant of God. “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Eccl. 1:18) And I would humbly add much frustration, which is I believe self-evident in these two verses.
Lost, saved, simple minded or fools, all are to be held in higher regard than ourselves, (Phil. 2:3) we who have been blessed with this burden must never think higher of ourselves than others, (Romans 12:3) in fact, we have been blessed to be servants of the lowest degree, for in this blessing of wisdom, we are shown just how little we truly know. Pride dies in such as have been shown this, compassion and frustration grow exponentially, the desire to serve, the fire to be profitable grows continuously, we are consumed with God.
Be patient with those you meet, they are loved by the Lord, but prepare to be upset, frustrated with them. Most will not want to learn the truth, others will deny it completely, while some will believe you to be only attempting to lift yourself up in their eyes. Some will listen though and learn the wisdom that the Lord has blessed you to give to them. No matter the individual case, our main purpose in this life is to glorify God, (1 Cor. 6:20) how they accept what is offered to them is not your concern, the glory of God is. Your reward is Christ, nothing else will suffice.
