I'm reading the book of Jeremiah and it has been such a help to me the last few weeks. When I read of Jeremiah's life of being a prophet and all he went through to speak the word of God and warn the people it humbles me. The Kings and most of the people wouldn't listen to him, burned his writings and threw him in prison yet Jeremiah kept obeying and living for God.
Once, near the beginning of his ministry he was complaining to God about the prosperity and oppression of the wicked. God spoke strongly to Jeremiah, telling him he must be strong. He said:
"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
Yahweh rebukes
Jeremiah's impatience, showing him by two proverbial sayings, that there were
still greater trials of faith in store for him. Prosperous wickedness is after
all a mere ordinary trial, a mere "running with the footmen;" he will
have to exert far greater powers of endurance.
And if in the land
... - Rather, "and in a land of peace thou art secure; but how wilt thou
do amid the pride of Jordan?" if thou canst feel safe only where things
are tranquil, what wilt thou do in the hour of danger? The "pride of
Jordan" is taken to, mean the luxuriant thickets along its banks, famous
as the haunt of lions (compare Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; Zechariah 11:3). What will the prophet do when he has to tread the tangled maze of a
jungle with the lions roaring round him?
If small things disturb our faith - what will we do when worse things befall us? I'm glad I have the example of Jeremiah; I know it will help me throughout my life.
