Jeremiah 12:5 (NASBStr)
“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
Have you ever looked around you and thought, "This just sucks!!" and wondered where you would go or what you would do as a result? Jeremiah was in such a place. In chapter twelve he comes to God with his "complaint" about the prosperity of the wicked (see Psalm 73 for a similar issue with another man of God). He is overwhelmed by the conduct of his countryman for their lack of spiritual sensitivity and their obvious hypocrisy. He has been ill treated by them and, informing God, didn't think this was fair or right. His "prayer" to God is to take this compliant to the "righteous" Judge who will vindicate Him. There has not been a minister of God that, if he is doing what he is told in God's Word, has not felt this way before. Jeremiah has had it "up to here" with their ungodly treatment of him and is taking his "cares" to The Lord, as we are ALL instructed. God's response, however, is surprising to us ... imagine what Jeremiah must have thought. God doesn't send immediate comfort. God doesn't affirm his thoughts. God doesn't wrap His big arms around him and give him a squeeze. Well, maybe, HE does squeeze Jeremiah; but, not how you think. He speaks to Jeremiah and states, "If you can't handle this, how will you handle what I am about to allow you to go through!" God asks Jeremiah, "If you can't run with footmen (these who are currently hurting you and are minor players in the first act), how will you run with horses (those who will be BIG players in the second act)?" He goes on with a second picture for Jeremiah to consider: If you can't handle the land when it is at peace how can you handle the Jordan when the banks are overflowing? Things were about to get rough for Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 20:2; 32:2). All ministers of God (and all believers) make the mistake that because they follow God things should be "comfortable" for them. They believe if they obey God, He will give them blessing upon blessing. Ask Joseph how that worked out. Ask Daniel how that thought played out as he served four kings in a foreign land and only wanted to go home ever day. Ask the three Hebrew "slaves" who were tossed into the fire. Ask Paul as he was beaten and tossed into jail after jail and run out of city after city. For the ultimate, ask Job!! His story should have told us about looking for blessings in this life. Yes, they all ULTIMATELY received blessing. Note what the writer of Hebrews wrote after he talked about many of God's great people in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11:
Hebrews 11:37-40 (NASBStr)
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill- treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.
Our obedience is based upon God's grace. God's grace, given to us, makes any situation possible. God didn't tell Jeremiah as a result of his great obedience he was going to bless him. God told him to sit down, shut up and hang on ... it was about to get rough. Yes, blessings come. But, not in this life. Getting peace, comfort, money, prosperity, notoriety, a life of ease, or whatever else you want to use to describe the "blessing" that follows obedience, simply pales to what God will give us and is not remotely what God is talking about in His Word about blessings. God only promises that we will be complete IN HIM. We don't obey to be blessed, we obey because we ARE blessed. Jeremiah had to learn that simply because he obeyed, life was not going to be easy. It never is when we are in a strange and foreign land where we are simply passing through.
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