“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?” (Jer. 12:5, NIV).
Do we “wait well” in challenging times? Resilience in life and ministry is a real concern today. Clearly, the Church hasn’t been immune to the pandemic-fueled “Great Resignation,” with over 40% of pastors considering quitting their ministries as a result of stress, isolation, and political divisiveness (https://www.barna.com/research/pastors-quitting-ministry/). To be sure, we believe in our calling and are committed to completing our God-given assignments. But to keep fighting the good fight hasn’t been easy! We are committed to following Christ, but many of us are suffering, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. Like David…like Jesus…we cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To lament is to be human; indeed, a third of the Book of the Psalms comprises laments. But as we find with the Israelites in their post-Egypt trek in the wilderness, where they endlessly griped about everything, what might begin legitimately as lament could just as easily turn into unwarranted complaint. Lament clearly has its place. Complaint, on the other hand, is potentially a slippery slope that leads us to dark places where the temptation to quit—not just full-time ministry but perhaps even the Christian life—could prove overpowering. The prophet Jeremiah did not have it easy in ministry. He was beaten and put in stocks, threatened with death, tossed into a mud-filled hole, branded a liar, and forced by rebellious Jewish military officers to go with them to Egypt in contravention of God’s orders (Jer. 20:1-2, 26:11, 38:6, 43:2-7). When the going got especially tough, Jeremiah leveled harsh accusations at God: “Why is my pain unending and my wound grievous and incurable? You are to me like a deceptive brook, like a spring that fails” (Jer. 15:18, NIV). And again: “You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed” (Jer. 20:7, NIV). Jeremiah basically labeled God a deceiver and liar and trickster—terms better befitting the devil, not God! But as Jeremiah learned, God expects him—and us—to do something incredulous: compete with horses! I confess there are times when, pondering Jer. 12:5, I just shake my head and groan, “Race with horses?? Lord, You’ve got to be kidding!” And yet, for the man who blamed God for presumably deceiving him—it’s implied in Scripture that Jeremiah repented before God and was restored as God’s servant (Jer. 15:19)—Jeremiah stayed true to his calling and was faithful and obedient to God all his life, no matter how difficult things got. Tradition has it that Jeremiah was the author of the Book of Lamentations, where these astonishing words confront us: “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD” (Lam. 3:19-26, NIV). How was Jeremiah able to stay resilient? Three words: he waited well. Where previously his downcast soul led him to accuse God, here he insists it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord—to await the faithful God whose mercies are new every morning. Resilience is arguably the “final frontier,” if you like, of the Christian life. We are urged to run with perseverance the race which God has marked out for us, because perseverance is necessary for completing us toward maturity in Christ (Heb. 12:1; Jas 1:3-4). Moreover, Jesus warns that the love of most will grow cold in the last days, “but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:12-13). Brothers and Sisters, let’s you and I persevere, stand firm, and wait well. The horses await us!
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