In Jeremiah chapter 12, Jeremiah
is complaining to the Lord about the hardship of the times he is living in. Things
are not easy for him; he is facing challenges that he doesn’t know how to deal with,
and it is irritating him. He asks the Lord how long these challenges will continue.
Now, in the times
we live in, this ‘Covid Era’, we too can complain about all that is happening
around us. I know I have done this too… “Lord, they are taking away our
freedoms, taking away our ability to gather for worship, declaring church non-essential…and
I’m tired of it. How long will this continue?”
How does God
answer Jeremiah…and me?
In fact, He doesn’t
answer the complaint, He refocuses both Jeremiah’s and my perspective in this
verse:
“If racing against mere men makes you
tired, how will you race against horses?
If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?”
Is the state of
the world causing you to stumble in your faith? Are the regulations and
lockdowns causing you to question the presence or power of God? Are you
drifting aimlessly from week to week, not engaging with church meetings, prayer
times, bible reading?
I believe the
Lord is asking us: If this battle makes you tired, when you are in relative
safety and freedom with no real physical threat or fear of persecution, how
will you cope with what is coming down the line?
I’m not saying
that it isn’t a difficult time and I recognise that we are facing challenges,
but what if this is ‘racing against mere men’ and we can expect there to be a ‘race
against horses’ in the future.
Jeremiah was
finding it hard where he was but there were much more difficult times ahead in his future.
He was struggling in Anathoth but he had no idea that he would be put into stocks,
into a cistern, and imprisoned later on in Jerusalem, Babylon and Egypt.
James tells us to thank God for the hard times in our lives
because we know that they have a deeper purpose. ‘Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an
opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is
tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.’ James 1:2-4
What if God is
preparing us for the times to come when we will have to face horses? What if we
need to run against mere men to push us to trust in the Lord in a deeper way?
God will never
ask us to contend with horsemen until he has trained us in contending with
footmen. (Morgan) What if the
patience and endurance James wrote about is being developed in us now, so we
can face the horses and thickets of Jordan down the line?
The reality is
that there is worse coming; the Bible doesn’t hide that from us. In the end
times there will be a persecution like we’ve never seen. The world will become
an even more wicked place. There will be a great falling away from the church
and the faith. Who knows if, like Jeremiah, we will be imprisoned or worse for
our faith in Jesus? But if the challenges we are facing now cause us to walk
away from our faith, how will we hope to survive in the days to come when
things will be a lot worse than they are now?
I keep thinking
about this and I hear a quiet voice saying:
- ·
Read your
bible because there may come a time when owning and reading one will be
illegal;
- ·
Learn bible
verses by heart because there may be a day when you need to speak them back to
yourself and you have no bible to hand;
- ·
Pray with
the Body of Christ because there may come a time when you will be forbidden
from praying out loud;
- ·
Worship
with your family in Christ because there may come a day when you will be
forbidden from singing the name of Jesus;
- ·
Reach out
and tell what God has done for you because there is coming a day when you will be
forbidden to evangelise or speak the name of Jesus.
Christian – I urge
you to allow the times we live in to drive you into a deeper, more intimate
dependence on God. Everything is being stripped away; all the distractions, the
time-fillers, the excuses are being shut down so that God can prepare His
people for the coming days. Let the challenges cause us to call out to the Lord
for Him to develop in us the faith, the patience, and the endurance we will
need to face what’s ahead. He knows what we need for now and for the future, and
He is faithful to produce it in us if we yield to His shaping.
For now, we have
technology; we have freedom to reach out and share our stories, our lives, the
gospel, our faith in Jesus; we have a reach that we have never had before. Let’s
not fall in the open ground, in the safe place we still have as Christians. Let’s
use what time we have to be a blessing to our family, friends, and communities, and
let God lead the way through the challenges.
There are many,
many people who have no understanding of the times we live in, but as Christians,
you and I know that God is moving, maybe one last time, before the end. Let’s
not opt out because of the challenges we face. Let’s remember their purpose and
stay as close to God as we can.
Jesus said in
John16:33 “I have told you
these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I believe God shows us these things
to warn us and prepare us, and to let us know that in Him is the only true
refuge; only in Him can we possibly hope to have peace. That kind of peace in
the midst of trouble only comes to those who know the end of the story - Jesus
has already won. He is victorious and we will be too, if we don’t fall away.
I join with Paul and Timothy when
they wrote that they were ‘…confident of this, that he who began a good work
in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ Php
1:6
God is faithful and whether it is
against mere men or horses, on open ground or in thickets, He will give us
everything we need.