Running With Horses
 

                If you have ever felt as if life was unfair, or perhaps even that God had abandoned or disappointed you, then please allow me to share a few thoughts with you from “the weeping prophet,” Jeremiah. I’ve recently come to recognize just how relevant this book, so unfamiliar to most Christians, really is. Consider Jeremiah’s “confessions,” a group of six related passages in which the prophet bears the agony of his heart in a way that we can all relate to (Jer 11.18-12.3; 15.10-21; 17.14-18; 18.18-23; 20.7-13, 14-20). More accurately described as “complaints” or “laments,” here Jeremiah pours out his heartfelt distress in candid protest to a God he felt had abandoned him. You might be surprised to read the strong language Jeremiah uses as he, like Job before him (cf. Job 9), accuses God of injustice and unfaithfulness. For example, in Jer 12.1 he brings God to court, saying: “…I would plead my case with You; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You. Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?”  The language for “plead my case” is judicial, used elsewhere by God in bringing Israel to court. Jeremiah’s indictment is clarified further in the third confession (15.17-18) where he blames God for his suffering and isolation, and even calls God a “deceptive stream with water that is unreliable”— the same language Jeremiah used earlier of idols (2.13)! Why is Jeremiah so upset with God? Because, after appointing Jeremiah to a mission he neither asked for nor wanted, and promising to protect and deliver him through it (1.4-10), God had not come through with his promise. Thus, God was both unfair and unfaithful. Wow! That’s quite a charge for a prophet to make!

But have you ever felt that way? Maybe you do right now. If so, I’m not sure you want to know God’s response to Jeremiah. As with Job, God never answered the charges against him. Instead, he said this to Jeremiah: “If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses?”  In other words, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, Jeremiah, so buck up!” Not exactly the answer he wanted to hear, I’m sure. Nonetheless, we know that in spite of his complaints Jeremiah ran with the horses. No matter how badly he desired to quit, his convictions would not allow it (20.9). He continued to preach, which meant he continued to suffer. But he never gave up. He never threw in the towel.

Has there ever been a message more relevant? Jeremiah teaches us that it it’s OK to bring our complaints to God, to be painfully honest with God about how we really feel. But he also teaches us that when all is said and done, our place is simply to continue to trust, serve, and obey God no matter what. This is what it means to run with the horses.

© 2007 Randy Hohf