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?
Jeremiah was struggling. He saw the wickedness of his nation and felt the pressure of following God in such a society. He wondered why it looked like the ungodly had an easy life and prospered while he struggled to make it from day to day. God basically says, “Stop whining, Jeremiah. If you can’t handle this, then what are you going to do when things get really tough?”
I guess I was both comforted and challenged by Jeremiah 12. I was comforted in the fact that Jeremiah, one of God’s chosen prophets, whined to God. It reminded me that Jeremiah was human, that he struggled, that he hated to go through difficulty, that he wanted things to be easier, to be right. I feel the same way many times. “God, things are so crazy in this country. Can’t You do something? I feel overwhelmed, tired, frustrated.” All of God’s people go through times like this.
But God looks at our whining much like I look at the whining of my own kids. When they whine about how “tough” things are, how hard it is to clean up their toys, how much responsibility we pile on their shoulders, like making their bed, picking up their clothes, setting the table, doing dishes, etc. (We are so cruel and demanding.) I tend to respond by saying, “Boys, you have no idea what tough is.”
Funny, how I am just like my boys in many ways. I can whine about how tough things are in life and in ministry when people in other countries are facing daily persecution, imprisonment, and even death for their faith. God has given me the easy task in His kingdom–to live for Him and proclaim His name in a country where I have freedom and peace. May I carry out that task with joy and faithfulness and not spend my time whining about things that don’t really matter.