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Last week, after I finished up a meeting in Cincinnati, I drove to the hotel near the airport to get some sleep before a morning flight. While I was packing the next morning, I looked out the window to see a horse track with racehorses training for their next race. Racehorses are impressive to watch. They are also very fast!

Just a few days earlier, my 12-year-old grandson, Everett, won a 5k road race with a time of 17:47. That is also very fast. But even my speedy grandson cannot run with horses. Sure, he could run on the same track, but he could never keep up with a racehorse!

I started thinking about these two episodes of my life when I read Jeremiah 12:5 this morning: “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?“ What exactly did God mean by asking Jeremiah that question? Certainly the creator of horses and humans knows that horses and humans do not have a level ground in the race world! I suppose most of my readers would grow weary trying to keep up with Everett, so I am pretty sure you can’t keep up with a galloping horse.

Jeremiah had a tough assignment. But if you pause to think about it, you realize that most of the Bible characters had tough assignments. In every case, God delivered on his promises, and the individuals in the stories had to exhibit faith and courage with a dose of patience.

In the opening of Jeremiah 12, we find the prophet pleading his case before God. He acknowledged that God is righteous, in that he always acts like God and is just in how he deals with us. God is true to who he is and fulfills his promises. After acknowledging God as God, Jeremiah delivered his complaint to God in the form of a question. I suspect that we often have the same thoughts the prophet had, but sometimes we are afraid to actually present them to the Lord, as if he doesn’t know our thoughts. We don’t need to be bashful when we are struggling to understand. We can simply take it to the Lord.

We have all shared Jeremiah’s assessment. Dishonest people often seem to thrive and get what they want. Why do people who couldn’t care less about God and deliberately choose to pursue evil see their plans succeed, while some who are following their God-given assignments experience suffering? In the case of Jeremiah, he had just received death threats because he simply prophesied what God had told him to say. God’s answer to Jeremiah’s questions may seem a little harsh: “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?“

God knew what Jeremiah had yet to find out: things were going to get harder. He would have to run with horses. Jeremiah didn’t yet understand what you and I often struggle to understand; when God gives us an assignment, he will not abandon us, even when things are much harder and go on much longer than we could have ever expected or imagined. And in these long assignments from God that often seem like they are not going the way we expected, God will give us the strength and endurance to “run with horses” at just the right time.

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that even young men grow weak, but when we wait on the Lord, he gives us strength to run and not be weary, to even soar like eagles with their wings stretched wide. God gives strength far beyond what we have on our own.

While we struggle to keep up with the evil in the world and with those who work against God’s plans, God is refining us and preparing us for outcomes and victories that we cannot imagine. Some of the outcomes of our service we will never see in this lifetime but will only be viewed from eternity. 

Peter reminds the church in his first epistle that Jesus suffered while on earth and that faithful Christians can and should expect that there will be suffering in our times of service, as well. But through our suffering, God gives us endurance and, more importantly, accomplishes his will.

So today, don’t worry if you are struggling to keep up or become bothered by the progress of evil and selfish people. God is alive and working and will accomplish his plan for the redemption and restoration of all things. And just when you need to pick up the pace, God will give you the strength and endurance to run like the wind and maybe even soar with eagles.

Father, thank you for the victories that we will see in eternity. Grant us the courage and the faith to continue the assignments you have given us, regardless of what we see around us. We trust you to be faithful today, just as you have been in every situation we read about in Scripture. Use us for your glory and to accomplish your will on earth as it is in heaven.  In Jesus’ name, amen.