Keep Up With the Horses
by Ray Prinzing

"If you have run with men on foot, and they have tired you out, then how can you keep up with horses?  If you take cover in a land of peace, then what will you do in the jungle (swelling) of Jordan?"                                    Jeremiah 12:5, Moffatt translation

Fortified with the understanding that "no Prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit," (2 Peter 1:20-21), we are grateful that today this self-same Spirit dwells within these earthen vessels, to quicken the Word to our hearts, and guide us onward into that which God hath prepared for this day.  That which we would share in this message has been made very real in our heart, and we trust will serve as a confirmation to those who read it.

To provide a background for the subject before us, we begin with the first verse of our chapter, from whence the text is chosen, to find that Jeremiah is making a complaint unto the Lord.  "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee: yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments:  Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?   Wherefore are all they happy that deal with very treacherously?"  As Jeremiah beheld the conditions of his nation, he was perplexed to see how the wicked did prosper, and the evil men were happy.  Especially was all this hard for him to understand in a dispensation which held out temporal rewards for virtue, etc.  Even the Psalmist found this a difficult problem (Psalm 73) until he began to understand the end of the evil man, and then the ultimate reward of the righteous.  But as Jeremiah laid this out before the Lord, it is surprising to find what God gave to answer him - for God did not try to explain to Jeremiah, but challenged him with these startling questions:  If you have now become worn out running with the men on foot, how will you keep up pace with the horses?  Now things are relatively quiet and peaceful, what will you do when they get agitated?  If present situations are too much for you, then how ill you ever survive the pressure when it increases?   The descriptive phrase "the swelling of Jordan" refers to those periodical overflowings, at which time, there was not only a flooding of all the adjacent country, but the wild beast which harboured on its banks were driven into the interior of the country, making them a type of an invading army.

Thus we see that the questions raised bespoke of great testings and pressures to come.  The problems which he had faced to that point were purposed to condition him for those things which were yet ahead, even as we also are admonished to "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3), that we might follow on to gain the prize, and win the battle.

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