Our Bible verse for today: “If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Just be faithful and hang-in there.”
Jeremiah was having a tough day. In fact, he was having a tough life. God had called him to minister to a bunch of thickheaded, backslidden Jews who were not interested in anything he had to say. It seemed to Jeremiah that he was wasting his time trying to get through to these people and he didn’t understand why God had him there.
In Jeremiah 12:1-4 the prophet voiced his complaints and essentially challenged God to explain Himself. We read God’s response in verse 12:5. But rather than answering Jeremiah directly, God instead posed a rhetorical question for him to consider. I’m paraphrasing God’s response but essentially He said, “Jeremiah, you are contending with mere men and yet they are getting the best of you. So how is it you think you can question Me and My motives?”
The lesson for Jeremiah was to simply obey God and trust Him for the outcome. The circumstances were difficult, but God just wanted Jeremiah to hang-in there, be obedient, and trust Him for the outcome. If you’re familiar with Jeremiah’s story then you know he did exactly that. The years of his ministry were long and hard, but Jeremiah was faithful and he never gave-up.
There’s a lesson for us in that story. Many times our circumstances are difficult and we don’t understand why God has us in the situations we are in. Since God is Sovereign (all-knowing and all-powerful, and therefore in control of every situation), it means that He either directly created your circumstances for a reason, or by His permissive will He chose to allow your circumstances to happen. Either way, He has a purpose and a plan. Your job is to simply be faithful. You are not to give-in and you are not to give-up.
God doesn’t expect you to perform miracles or to accomplish the impossible. He just wants you to be faithful right where you are. Very often a life that He considers to have been well spent life is a life that consists of simple faithfulness, over a long period of time, in difficult circumstances. Jeremiah did that, and so can you.
Oak Hill Baptist Church