Running with horses
Key Verses: Jeremiah 12: 1 and 5 “You will be in the right, O LORD, when I lay charges against you; but let me put my case to you. Why does the way of the guilty prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” v1, “If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?” v5.
As we have been looking at the life of Jeremiah, two questions keep coming up. Why is it that he seems so strong on the outside and yet so prone to discouragement on the inside? Did he ever arrive at a place in his life where he was never discouraged? Christ never promised us that we would never face or feel discouragement but He did promise that His yoke was easy to bare and we are to learn from Him, Matthew 11: 29-30 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”.
It is unrealistic to say we should never be discouraged and that our lives should be so filled with God that there is no room for it. There are so many examples of Christians who have been discouraged in their lives, the key to their success is that they did not allow themselves to indulge in it. They accepted that it was happening and brought to God in prayer, Spurgeon suffered bouts of depression, the apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh but all was brought to God in prayer. Did Jeremiah ever come to the place where he never had another moment of discouragement, I do not think so. The first section of his prophecy (Ch 1-20) focuses on his inner suffering, while the later part focuses on his outer suffering but he learned to suffer well. So let us with Paul realise God’s grace is all sufficient, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”.
Jeremiah’s question to God remains a very modern one “if God is good, why does He allow evil to flourish?” Why does He seemingly allow the wicked to get away with so much? Jeremiah knew that God’s justice will ultimately be seen to be done and like many of us, he wanted that justice to happen now. Have you noticed that God never answers the question of why there are so many apparent miscarriages of justice in His world, instead He questions us, redirects us or reassures us. Our God does not have to explain why, and to be honest I probably would not understand why. He is totally rational and wants us to trust Him because we do not know and cannot answer all things 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”. God deals with us not as a philosopher, but as a perfect Father.
Jeremiah was in danger of sliding in to self-pity and God’s remedy was not doctrinal but was a challenge He gives Jeremiah an eye-opening reply v5 “If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?” God turns the light back on to Jeremiah rather than on his complaint. His difficulties with the wicked now were nothing compared with what he was to face in the future. If we cannot trust God in the darkness surrounding us now how can we trust Him when the raging storm comes?
What was Jeremiah’s response to this challenging question? Continue to read the book of Jeremiah and you will be left with no doubt, he responded not by argument but by action. He rose to the challenge and “ran with the horses”, are we open to God’s challenge? Let us run with the horses also.