How Will We Endure?

I am reading through Jeremiah for my own quiet times and was really struck by this today. So I thought I'd share it with ye all.

Jeremiah 12:1-2

‘Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease? You have planted them, they have also taken root; they grow, they have even produced fruit.’

Jeremiah complains about the presence of the wicked on the Earth and in the land. He cannot understand why God allows them to remain, to prosper and to cause trouble for the righteous.

Jeremiah’s question is so honest. We have all felt it at some point or another. Why do the wicked prosper? We are far better to ask God honestly, even the hard questions in our hearts than to pretend they don’t exist at all. Verse 3 states ‘But You know me, O Lord; You see me; and You examine my heart’s attitude toward You’. God already knows what we think!

We often feel as though those who are unsaved have an easy time while the Christian must walk through trial after trial. It feels ‘unfair’. Yet who are we to judge fairness? We cannot be impartial. Often what we see as fairness just means ease and comfort for ourselves out of some misguided notion that we deserve something better than we have.

Of course there are wicked people who do all kinds of evil deeds that appear to go unpunished but we are encouraged throughout the word that their advance is temporary and that they will be dealt with appropriately in God’s own timing.

Psalm 1:5-6 states ‘the wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.’

God answers Jeremiah in 12:5
“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?”

If we cannot endure through times of peace and safety, how will we last when real tribulation comes? If we are tired out and spent by the normal, everyday hardships and workings of this world, how will we cope when the enemy truly rises against us?

As I was meditating on this question, I was reminded of a verse in Judges 3:1-2 which states 'Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).'

According to this verse, God purposely left the ungodly nations to teach this generation of Israel to battle. They had been born into a victorious people, already residing in the Promised Land and they had never known or experienced the battle their fathers had to fight to win that victory. In a sense they were privileged and often the privileged have a way of taking for granted the blessings they have been given.

God knew they needed to know how to fight so that they would not fall when trouble came. He was teaching them, strengthening them, preparing them for the difficult days that lay ahead.

How much more then does the Lord use the world/ungodly to prepare those of us who are facing the end of days?

 Jeremiah 12:5 ‘If you fall down in a land of peace’

The term ‘fall down’, also means ‘trust’ (used here in the negative). If we cannot trust God in the safe country, how will we manage in a time when there is warfare, confusion and danger?

We must allow God to teach us to battle. Unlike the Israelites we are not called to battle against flesh and blood with swords and shields, rather we battle with prayer and intercession and the word of God.

We must learn to battle in our everyday routine so that we will be prepared when the enemy forces rise up against us. Otherwise how will we stand? What hope will we have of victory?

 We must train for battle as rigorously as a soldier prepares for battle. We must prepare daily, physically and spiritually. It is a matter of life and death. God will strengthen us but we must opt in. he cannot deepen us, teach or train us if we will not yield.

Now is the time to trust God and strengthen ourselves in Him so that the ‘horses’ will not overtake us and the dangers hiding in the ‘thickets’ will not overwhelm us.

 Hebrews 12:7,11,12

‘Endure hardship as discipline’ Hardship for the Christian is not without purpose. it is not punishment. God is shaping us for His will and pleasure and training us as His army.

‘No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.’  We may not understand or like what God is doing but it will produce what He intends if we allow Him to work.

‘Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,’ we must strengthen ourselves in Him, we MUST!

As a Christian we have no choice about being in the battle, there is no DMZ (de-militarised zone). We are in. however we do have a choice about whether or not to submit to the training and preparing of the Commander.

 1Peter 5:8 explains ‘Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.’ Do not willingly put your head in his mouth. Do not be unprepared. Resist him! How? By making yourself strong in the Lord!

Ephesians 6:13 ‘Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.’ We have armour that cannot be pierced. Put it on daily and train for the battle that we might stand!

So I feel encouraged not to look at circumstances, the world or the prosperous wicked around me and lose hope. God is still in control. He will have His way. His kingdom is advancing! Get involved in the fight!

 Brónagh Hayes