“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?”
Jeremiah 12:5
Jeremiah struggled with the age-old dilemma of why it seems wicked people prosper. God is near in their mouths but far from their minds. Jeremiah wanted God to do something about the situation—the hypocrisy of it all. God replied with the verse above.
You would expect encouragement and hope from God at this point. Instead, God tells him that worse days are ahead. The present and yet future plans for Jeremiah are compared to a foot race with men and one with horses in the future. If Jeremiah was tired because of the race he ran with men, what would happen when he faced the horses?
The days ahead for Jeremiah would be filled with tumult and sorrow – a floodplain. It would make his present situation look like the land of peace. Jeremiah had to prepare for coming hardship and not give into the sorrow he felt. He must remain faithful to the Lord.
God does not need to explain Himself to Jeremiah or to us. The questions need to come from Him not us. While we may struggle and honestly pour out how we feel before Him, we should realize that we haven’t really seen anything yet. Things will go from bad to worse in our world. Knowing this may lead to discouragement and defeat if we’re not careful.
Don’t allow the little things to separate you from God and what He has called you to do. If you do, then what will happen when you face real persecution? The Bible principle is to persevere in the little things so that you can run with the horses later.
This is what we try to teach the children in the Academy. If they complain and gripe about the simple steps God asks them to take today, what kind of spiritual strength will they have for the complex maze that awaits them as adults?
Our desire at the Academy is to see children do great things for God. They will only be able to accomplish these great things as they learn to persevere in the small things. Getting homework turned in on time, doing their best on every assignment, practicing music faithfully, and keeping a routine daily schedule are the small foot races that our children are running in the present. These races will train them to run with the horses tomorrow (holding a job, college, marriage, having children, etc.).
How can we run with the horses? Isaiah gives us a good answer:
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31
