Jeremiah 15:17
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. 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 belongs to chapters that portray Jeremiah grieving over the people's sinful state and at times nearly discouraged by their lack of response to God's messages. It means that he did not sit in the assembly of mockers nor share their rejoicing, but sat alone because God's hand was upon him, having been filled with indignation. His apartness from those who celebrate and his distress under God's hand are set alongside the bitter experience of those who had eaten the little book.
The same facts appear in the eating of the little book, where God's words were received with joy and sweetness like honey in the Advent message and then turned to bitterness and sorrow when disappointment rather than the Lord came at the appointed time in 1844. The mistake about the event seemed to involve the integrity of the message eaten, and those who endured the digesting process learned that the mistake was only in the event and not in the time, and that what was given was for nourishment and support and not unto death. In this way the verse pictures God's people after the little book's message had first been sweet and then brought disappointment, isolated from a scoffing world and filled with distress because the expected event had not occurred. Their loneliness and indignation formed part of a severe trial of faith and patience.
It describes the disappointment and isolation of believers who, after expecting Christ to come, did not join the scoffing crowd but remained apart under the weight of their experience. They endured ridicule without joining their mockers, while still finding joy in God's word.