Jeremiah 12:1-17: a reflection

1You are righteous, LORD, when I contend with you; yet I would like to plead a case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? 2You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. 3But you, LORD, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.” 5“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? Though in a land of peace you are secure, yet how will you do in the pride of the Jordan? 6For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you! Don’t believe them, though they speak beautiful words to you. 7“I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. 8My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her. 9Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field. Bring them to devour. 10Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. 11They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no one cares. 12Destroyers have come on all the bare heights in the wilderness; for the sword of the LORD devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace. 13They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits, because of the LORD’s fierce anger.” 14The LORD says, “Concerning all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15It will happen that after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. 16It will happen, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives;’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up in the middle of my people. 17But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah brings God an honest complaint: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive? He is troubled, as many are, by the prosperity of the wicked. But God's answer is not the soothing reassurance Jeremiah might have hoped for. Instead, God challenges him: If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? In effect: if you are weary already, harder things are coming; you must be strengthened for what lies ahead.

Notice how God answers Jeremiah's complaint: not by removing the difficulty, but by challenging him to be strengthened for greater ones. Jeremiah was troubled and weary; and rather than simply comforting him, God tells him, in effect, that this is only the beginning, that harder challenges lie ahead, and he must be ready for them. It is a bracing answer, calling Jeremiah not to comfort but to greater strength.

That is a hard but valuable word. We often come to God with our struggles, hoping he will simply remove them and comfort us. And sometimes he does. But sometimes God's answer, like his answer to Jeremiah, is bracing rather than soothing: not to remove the difficulty, but to strengthen us for greater ones, to call us up to a resilience we will need for what lies ahead. When you are struggling and God does not simply remove the difficulty, consider that he may be strengthening you, as he strengthened Jeremiah, for harder challenges to come. His bracing answer is not unkindness, but a preparing of us for what lies ahead. Let him strengthen you for the race, even when you hoped he would end it.

Lord, when Jeremiah complained of the prosperity of the wicked and was weary, you did not simply soothe him, but challenged him: if you have raced with men and are weary, how will you compete with horses? Help me receive your answers, even the bracing ones. I often come to you hoping you will simply remove my struggles and comfort me. And sometimes you do. But sometimes your answer, like your answer to Jeremiah, is to strengthen me for greater challenges rather than to remove the present one. When you do not simply take away my difficulty, help me trust that you may be preparing me, strengthening me for what lies ahead. Your bracing answers are not unkindness, but a readying of me. Strengthen me for the race, Lord, and give me the resilience I will need for what is to come.