Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Jeremiah 10-13
Jeremiah 12:5
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
The warriors and their chariots that encircled Elisha at Dothan couldn’t hurt him. For as the prophet said to his servant, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Then he prayed and his servant’s eyes were opened and he saw the chariots of fire, sent from God, surrounding the enemies. (II Kings 6:14-18) The burning fiery furnace had no power over those three Hebrew men in Daniel 3, the lions harmed not Daniel in Daniel 6, nor could Jezebel hurt Elijah in I Kings 19. Paul was delivered from the onslaught of possible life-ending events in the book of Acts. He was beaten, chased out of towns, shipwrecked, and bitten by a viper, but he made it to Rome just as God had told him. Paul was invincible until his purpose from God was complete. So were Eisha, Elijah, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So are you. Whoever you are and whatever you are doing for the Lord, in accordance with His Word and will for your life, you are invincible.
So was Jeremiah. But he was concerned. In verse 1 of chapter 12 the great weeping prophet said to the Lord, Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? He, Jeremiah, is responding to God’s announcement at the end of the previous chapter of the conspiracy of the men of Anathoth to kill Jeremiah if he continued to prophesy in the name of the Lord (11:21). Jeremiah feared for his life.
So, God asked the prophet a question. Two actually. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? At this point Jeremiah was relatively safe. However, there were serious issues of excessive sin and of the wicked gaining in prosperity in the land. These were footmen type issues. These were minor in comparison to the horsemen, the well trained, well equipped, and extremely violent men on their horses. This was a time of peace in the land, yet there was a coming flood of evil, like the swelling of the Jordan during the wet seasons.
If the prophet could not run with the footmen, how would he deal with the horsemen? If he couldn’t deal with the land during times of peace, how could he handle the flood of violence to come? God was helping Jeremiah to fortify himself; settle his confidence in the Lord to continue on in faith. Throughout Jeremiah’s life he will suffer heartache and persecutions, the Lord was preparing him for these and we will read of them. He was forbidden to marry, had many antagonists, was persecuted greatly, and even put in prison. But he persevered. He remained faithful, evidently even unto death. For while there is no Biblical evidence of Jeremiah’s death, tradition holds that he was stoned to death in Egypt.
It may be that the small “footman” trials we face, the puddles of water in this land of peace, are preparing us for the horsemen, for the flood. A scary thought, yes, but at the same time a comforting one. Those little skirmishes are used of the Lord to prepare us for the real day of battle when our faith is tested to the brink. Jeremiah stood in his day, so did Elisha, Elijah, Daniel, and countless others throughout the span of history. So can we.
Dr. William T. Howe
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