Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech, that I live among the tents of Kedar!Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
4 sermons cite this verse
Now go back to verse 1 now that you've heard the whole thing, and let's make a loop. In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Today I'm going to talk about the lie that the devil has been telling you. This message is called, Not Here. Not Here. Just reach around and tell seven people on your way to your seat, Not Here. Not Here. You may be seated. Not here. Oh, I want to tell you why I'm here today, why I'm in the pulpit today. You're like, isn't it your job? Well, not every single Sunday. I would have scheduled this Sunday off because of all of the intensive labor around our songwriting. But number one, I thought, if the team's going to be here, I'm going to be here. But number two, I thought you needed this next word in the series, and I didn't want the devil to disrupt the flow of what we're doing because I really feel like we've got some momentum, and I'm really hearing testimonies, and I really feel like there's something special he's doing in some of our minds and delivering us from the devil that keeps us from making decisions and keeps us from rejoicing and keeps us depressed. So I wanted to keep that going. …
I must not omit to remind you that this will be an assimilating sight. I don't like that long word, but I mean that it will be a sight that will make us like He, upon whom we shall then be gazing! "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is." It is looking by faith to Christ that gives us any likeness to Him which we possess even now—but a clear view of our gracious "King in His beauty" shall transform us into a perfect likeness to Him. "In all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren—and His brethren shall, ultimately, in all things be made like unto Him! I will add only one more characteristic of this vision of Christ—it will be an everlasting sight When our Sabbath services are over, some of you go out of the Tabernacle with heavy hearts. You have to go home to a sick household, perhaps to a persecuting husband or an ungodly wife. You are coming with us to the Communion Table and when you leave the assembly of the saints, you will have to go where you will cry with the Psalmist, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" I do not wonder that you sang with such heartiness just now— "Oh when, you city of my God, Shall I, your courts ascend Where congregations never break up, And Sabbaths have no end?" …
All sorts of trials have beset the saints of God. Rough winds have blown upon them from all points of the compass and they have had bad weather in all seasons of the year. They have been plagued from within and assailed from without. The arrows of temptation have come upwards from the Pit and often the blows of the rod have came downward from the Throne. There is no form of sorrow, I suppose, which has not been experienced by the chosen of the Lord, though, blessed be His name, the Lord has delivered them out of it all! Micah appears to have been troubled by a combination of difficulties and afflictions. He was grieved at the low estate of the Church—a combination which ought to affect some of us a great deal more than it does. Alas, there are some who will always be contented enough if their own house shall flourish, though God's House should be utterly ruined! Micah loved the Church of God—and the low estate of it cut him to the quick. Moreover, the generation among whom he lived added to his grief. "The best of them," he said, "is as a briar: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge."Doubtless he sympathized with the cry of David when he said, "Woe is me, that I sojourn Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Ke-dar!" Ill company vexed his soul as the Sodomites vexed the soul of the righteous Lot. And it appears, from reading the Chapter though, that he also had a personal difficulty—probably in the matter of slander. He speaks of "her that is my enemy." You may notice how he dwells upon it—upon himself being persecuted and maligned—but he implies his belief that God would arise and plead his righteous cause. Slander is no uncommon injury for the children of God to bear. That which false tongues glibly utter, ungenerous minds easily credit—and a pure conscience is exquisitely sensitive. The birds will pluck at the ripe fruits, whatever they may do with the sour ones. The longest trees cast the longest shadows and those who stand the highest are often said by men of the world to be the most base. God was slandered in Paradise—why should we expect to escape being slandered in the midst of this world of sinners? …
I. A WORD OF SEPARATION. Here note that the tares and the wheat will grow together until the time of harvest shall come. It is a great sorrow of heart to some of the wheat to be growing side by side with tares. The ungodly are as thorns and briars to those who fear the Lord. How frequently is the sigh forced forth from the godly heart, "Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" A man's foes are often found within his own household. Those who should have been his best helpers are often his worst hinderers. Their conversation vexes and torments him. It is of little use to try to escape from them, for the tares are permitted, in God's Providence, to grow with the wheat—and they will do so until the end. Good men have emigrated to distant lands to found communities in which there should be none but saints, but, alas, sinners have sprung up in their own families! The attempt to weed the ungodly and heretical out of the settlement has led to persecution and other evils—and the whole plan has proven a failure. Others have shut themselves away in hermitages to avoid the temptations of the world, and so have hoped to win the victory by running away—this is not the way of wisdom! The word for this present is, "Let both grow together." But there will come a time when a final separation will be made. Then, dear Christian woman, your husband will never persecute you again! Godly sister, your brother will heap no more ridicule upon you! Pious workman, there will be no more jesting and taunting from the ungodly! That, "but,"will be an iron gate between the God-fearing and the godless! Then will the tares be cast into the fire, but the Lord of the harvest will say, "Gather the wheat into My barn." …