But thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob
Insincerity in religion
It is a common observation that there is very little sincerity in the world.
We are now concerned with insincerity of a deeper and more serious character,--insincerity in religion. I propose to offer some remarks which may serve to detect a mere formal profession of religion. The subject on which I shall chiefly remark is the habit and enjoyment of secret prayer.
I. MANY HAVE CONTINUED FOR A WHILE IN HABITS OF SECRET PRAYER, AND YET ARE ONLY FORMAL PROFESSORS.
II. MERE FORMAL PROFESSORS AFTER AWHILE LEAVE OFF PRAYER IN A GREAT DEGREE.
III. It is evident that these formal worshippers are utterly deceived in thinking they are converted: THIS WEARINESS IN PRAYER SHOWS THE CHANGE WAS NOT REAL. How are we to distinguish the feelings of a mere formalist from the presence of God’s renovating Spirit?
1. They have not the spirit of prayer. Theirs is not prayer suggested, inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.
2. Mere professors, being deficient in secret prayer, soon fall back again into their former sins and worldliness.
3. It is utterly impossible for you to be saved so long as you live in neglect of prayer.
(1) To neglect prayer is utterly inconsistent with the love of God, which is the element of true religion.
(2) Contrary to the fear of God. This is expressed by the opponents of Job. “Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.”
(3) Utterly at variance with that holiness without which no man shall see God.
(4) Allowed negligence of prayer cannot be reconciled with the hope of dwelling with God for ever.
We offer four motives for holy perseverance in prayer.
1. It is wholly necessary for your salvation. “If any man draw back, My soul hath no pleasure in him.”
2. Take heed to yourselves, and be exceedingly watchful, that you may persevere in this duty, and maintain the spirit of vigorous piety. Let us never seek to shelter ourselves under mere doctrines, such as, true saints shall persevere.
3. To urge you to perseverance in the duty of secret prayer, think how much you need the help of the Spirit of God.
4. The fourth motive for perseverance in fervent prayer is, the great advantages that result from it. (W. B. Mackenzie, B. A.)
A fast sermon
There are two distinct charges--
1. A neglect of prayer.
2. Growing weary of God.
The point is this: people are at a dangerous pass when they begin to neglect prayer. Eliphaz layeth it as a heavy charge upon Job (Job 15:4): “Surely thou restrainest prayer before God.” When conscience is clamorous, wants pressing, and yet men cannot find the heart to go to God, it is a sad case. So the heathen are described to be the families that call not upon His name (Jeremiah 10:25); that is, that do not acknowledge and worship Him. “The workers of iniquity,” of what religion soever they profess themselves to he, “they call not upon the Lord” (Psalms 14:4). The evil of this will appear if we consider--
I. WHY THE DUTY WAS APPOINTED.
1. It is a notable part of God’s worship, or a serious calling to mind His presence and attributes. To withdraw from prayer is to withdraw from God; and to be unwilling to pray is to be unwilling to draw nigh to God, or to have any serious thoughts of His being and attributes.
2. It is a profession of our dependence.
3. It is a duty wherein the mysteries of our most holy faith are reduced to practice. There are two great mysteries in the Christian religion--the doctrine of the Trinity, and the mediation of the Son of God.
4. One special end of prayer is to nourish communion and familiarity between God and us; for it is the converse of a loving soul with God, between whom there is a mutual complacency.
5. Prayer is required to preserve in us a sense of our duty, and to keep the heart in better frame.
6. To engage our affections to heavenly things.
7. To be a means of comfort and spiritual refreshing. The soul is disburdened of trouble by this kind of utterance.
II. THE CAUSES WHY MEN NEGLECT IT.
1. Atheism is at the root. When men neglect prayer, either they believe there is no God or no providence.
2. Security.
3. Coldness in religion and weariness of God.
4. Want of peace breeds loathness and backwardness, as David hung off Psalms 32:3) till he had recovered his peace.
5. Want of spiritual strength. He that hath lame joints cannot delight in exercise which is a pleasure to them that are strong. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel
Weary of God
Marvellous words! We are not surprised to find God saying to us, “Thou hast wearied Me”; but it is astonishing that God, to His own people, should complain, “Thou hast been weary of Me.” We are not astonished that the creature wearies of the creature, man of man, saint of saint. This is in the very nature of things; it arises from the limitation of the creature’s powers and resources: no creature can be to another what every creature wants. God in Christ alone can slake the thirst and meet the hunger of our needy souls, and it is worse than useless for men to try to take the place of God in their ministrations and relations to each other. And that God should stoop to say this is also marvellous. Many of you would be too proud to make this acknowledgment if you were placed in a similar position with respect to your fellow-creatures; but here is God reasoning with those whose hearts have wandered from Him, and saying, with all the fidelity of a father, and the pleading tenderness of a mother, “Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” Many a parent may learn of God even in such matters as rebuke and chastisement. The power of rebuke is very intimately connected with the spirit in which it is administered; you may so rebuke a fault in a child as, by the very rebuking, to attach the child more strongly to yourself; or you may so rebuke as to increase the distance between your child and yourself, and at the same time to confirm him in his fault. Listen to God’s rebukes, and be “followers of God, as dear children.” The form in which this being weary of God showed itself was partly the restraint of prayer. “Thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel.” It is very likely that the form of prayer was kept up; yet God says, “Thou hast not called upon Me.” The day was when they had called upon God first, and upon God last. But now they restrained prayer, and they tried to carry their burdens by the independent strength (and their strength was weakness) of their own shoulders; or they tried to bear their sorrows with the sympathy and assistance which their fellow-creatures and their fellow-saints could administer. God noticed this conduct of His people, and He rebuked it. And not only in the restraint of prayer was this weariness manifested, but also in the neglect of sacrifice; in indifference towards the ordinances of God, and carelessness in the worship of God; in disregard to the will of God; and also in fretful discontent under the dispensations of God (Malachi 1:2.). The prophet here represents Israel as sent into captivity, and God as justifying His procedure on the ground of Israel s own spirit and conduct. It is a fault common to God’s saints.
I. THE NATURE OF THIS EVIL. We have already indicated it, but we may put it in another light. We may show it, for example, in contrast. This people, God says, “have I formed for myself; they shall show forth My praise.” He made us in His own image, that we might reflect Himself, and in the sight of which we might rejoice. And He made us in His own image, that we might reflect Him to each other and to other people; while, for the same object He redeems us. God, in redeeming us, forms us for Himself, that we should love Him; that we should trust Him; that we should honour Him, and that we should try to please and glorify Him. And we realise the work which our blessed Saviour has wrought for us, and which the Spirit of God is now working within us, when we are able to say, “I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” Now, what is it to be weary of God? It is to desire to break the connection that exists between us and God. It is to be impatient of continued connection with Him; to be tired of calling upon Him; tired of thinking of Him; tired of trusting Him; tired of waiting for Him; tired of serving Him. I know not a better illustration than that which is supplied by the first part of the parable of the Prodigal Son.
II. ITS MANIFESTATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT.
1. This weariness is first shown by formality in Divine worship.
2. It then shows itself in the outward neglect of Divine requirements. Declension begins in the heart, and shows itself first in formality, and then the steps between formality and the outward neglect of Divine requirements are not very many.
3. Then follows, not looking to God for aid and succour. The man depends more upon himself than he ought to depend, or he looks more to his fellow-creatures than he had been accustomed to look.
III. WHAT IS THE OCCASION OF THE MANIFESTATION OF THIS WEARINESS? You will generally find one of the following things--disappointed hope, the endurance of affliction, or the prosperity of the wicked.
IV. ITS CAUSES. You must be aware of the distinction between an occasion and a cause. God’s dispensations towards Pharaoh, as we are told, hardened his heart. They were the occasions of this, but the cause was not in God; neither was the cause in the dispensation of God--the cause was in Pharaoh. Unless Pharaoh had possessed a hardened heart, those dispensations of Divine providence, instead of increasing this obduracy, would have produced a totally different state of soul. The same dispensations have done it, as in the case of Nineveh; when Nineveh was threatened, Nineveh repented. The cause is to be found either in the absence of love or in the feebleness of love.
V. THE BITTER FRUITS of this weariness. God sees it; and He cannot see it without feeling it. God is angry, and He corrects; and He corrects so as to make the chastisement answer to the sin. The man has, to a certain extent, withdrawn from God, and God withdraws from the man. He deprives the man of whatever influences are still tending to promote his peace and joy and rest. And, of course, if the heart be alive, if it be a quickened heart, this state is one of great misery, until the soul is restored to God. Where there is not life, you find that the case gets worse and worse, and that very frequently men fall from this weariness into scepticism, and into atheism.
VI. THE MEANS OF PREVENTION. Ejecting the first hard thoughts of God; not yielding for a moment to indolence in the service of God; comprehension (so far as we can comprehend) of the principles, and of the general plan of the Divine Government, so as not to be expecting here that which God has given us no reason to hope for here; following Christ implicitly in the conduct of the spirit towards God; and cherishing most sacredly the influences of the Holy Spirit.
VII. When you have fallen into this evil state, WHAT IS THE CURE?
1. Full confession of the weariness. Be willing to speak of it as God speaks of it; to see it as God sees it; and to condemn it as God condemns it. Call it weariness of your merciful Father--weariness of your best and kindest friend.
2. Admission of the Divine goodness in the correction by which you are made sensible of your weariness.
3. Return to a careful observance of God’s ordinances and precepts, the obtaining of pardon, and the assurance of forgiveness. While you are in doubt about pardon with reference to this sin, you will find yourselves keeping at a distance from God. This subject is suitable for self-examination. Are there any signs of this weariness of God in you? (S. Martin.)
Weary of God
To be weary of God is to be weary of His worship and service. It is as sad a character as can be given, either of persons or of a people, to say that they are weary of God.
I. THE NATURE OF THE EVIL. Weariness in the body noteth a deficiency of strength, no more mind to work; in the soul, a falling from God, and we have no mind to His service, which is either partial or total.
1. Partial. When the heart is more alienated from God than before, and all our respects to Him grow burdensome and grievous, and the heart begins to repine at everything we do for Him (Malachi 1:13; Amos 8:5).
2. Total when not only the power of religion is abated, but the very profession of it is cast off.
II. IT IS INCIDENT SOMETIMES TO PERSONS CONSIDERED IN THEIR SINGLE CAPACITY; SOMETIMES TO A PEOPLE CONSIDERED IN THEIR COMMUNITY.
1. To persons considered apart, and in their single capacity.
(1) Partly out of natural adverseness to God.
(2) Partly because of the fickleness of man.
2. It is incident to a people considered in their community.
(1) The Church of God in general.
(2) In every nation.
Usually religion is changed in a nation upon two grounds--
(a) Change of persons. When good old zealous men are gone the stage is shifted, and there cometh on a new scene of acts and actors; one generation passeth, and another cometh.
(b) Change of interests. When it is for their own interest to own God, men think they can never bind themselves fast enough to Him; but when the posture of interest is changed, God is laid aside, they grow weary of God; they deal treacherously with the Lord, and walk willingly after the commandment (Hosea 5:7; Hosea 5:11).
III. THE CAUSES WHY A PEOPLE GROW WEARY OF GOD. Besides those general causes, these may be added--
1. Want of love to God.
2. We are too much led by sense; and if we have not present satisfaction, we soon grow weary of religion.
3. It argueth too much love of the world, which by long importunity prevaileth with us to forsake God, and grow dead and cold in religion 2 Timothy 4:10).
4. It comes from indulgence to the ease of the flesh. As bodily weariness is most incident to the lazy, so is spiritual weariness to those who do not rouse up themselves.
5. Impatience of troubles, and the manifold discourage merits we meet with in the way to heaven.
IV. THE EFFECTS.
1. Boldness in sinning.
2. More coldness in duties of worship. Either it is omitted or performed perfunctorily, and in a careless, stupid manner.
3. Less care and study to please God.
V. What a sad state of soul it is appeareth--
1. By the heinousness of the sin.
(1) It is a horrible contempt of God, after trial, to fall off from God and return to our carnal pleasures and satisfactions again.
(2) It is a very senseless and unreasonable sin. God never gave you cause or occasion to grow weary of Him. He challengeth Israel: “O My people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me” (Micah 6:3).
(3) There is much ingratitude in it. He hath given much cause to the contrary.
2. The terribleness of the judgment.
(1) On nations.
(2) On Churches (Revelation 2:5).
(3) For particular persons, it layeth them open to God’s severe correction Hosea 5:15).
(4) For total defection. There is dreadful vengeance appointed for them that prefer the creature before God. (T. Manton, D. D.)