Running with the Horses
Jeremiah 12:1-6
November 22-23, 2025
Jeremiah, please, chapter 12. As many of you know, of course, we're going through the entire Bible. We'll cover the verses around this at our Wednesday midweek, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter service. The title of our message, Running with the Horses. Very important what God would have for us to strengthen our faith today. Let's pray and receive from God's word together. Lord, we are so thankful. We know that you reveal your heart after us in your Word. You show us the way of life and way of blessing and honor. God, just pour out your Spirit of life. Meet us here in this place and revive us through your Word. We pray in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
The subtitle of the message could be, God is preparing you for greater things. It's a very personal message. The theme that we've been seeing in the book of Jeremiah is the theme of revival. God sends His prophet to call the nation back to Him, to revival, because they'd gone toward the world and gone towards the gods of the world. Here in chapter 12, it's a personal message. It's really a prayer concern that Jeremiah has for himself. What God gives to him is a tremendous message to encourage and strengthen him.
Jeremiah has been standing alone against princes and kings and prophets and priests. Really, he's been standing alone against the whole nation, and it's come to a point where he's exhausted, weary, frustrated, fatigued. He's been preaching truth to a nation that hates truth. He's been mocked, plotted against, abandoned, betrayed. In fact, the people from his own hometown were plotting to take his life. Here in Jeremiah 12, Jeremiah brings a raw, honest complaint to God. He's frustrated, he's tired, discouraged, and he wants to understand. These people that are standing against him, why are they not suffering consequences for this? Their heart's not right with God.
He says why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the faithless live at ease while he's suffering? It doesn't seem right to Jeremiah. He's praying, why? Why? Maybe you've prayed something so raw and so honest. What's interesting is that God doesn't comfort Jeremiah with a pat on the back. God doesn't say, "No, they're there, Jeremiah. It's going to be okay. You're going to be all right. This too will pass. Just hang in there."
No. Instead, God gives to Jeremiah one of the most sobering, one of the most strengthening, hope-filled corrections in all of Scripture. Really, the crux of it is found in verse 5, where God says to Jeremiah, "If you run with the footmen and they tire you out, then how will you run against horses?" In other words, it's going to get worse, Jeremiah. You ain't seen nothing yet. It's going to be worse. If you have fallen down in the land of peace, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? Now, this is not rejection. It's revelation. It's not minimizing Jeremiah's pain. It's magnifying Jeremiah's purpose.
In this single verse, the Lord tells Jeremiah, and He's telling us today, "I am preparing you for greater things. There are greater troubles ahead. That's true. There are storms on the horizon that are greater than you can ever imagine, but I am preparing you for a greater purpose that will come with those greater troubles." When you go back on the history, when God first called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nation, he was a very young man. He said to the Lord, "I am just a youth."
The Lord responded and said, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' for I will be with you. The words that you speak will be the words I give you to say. I make you like a fortified city, like a pillar of iron, like a wall of bronze against the whole land. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail, for I am with you to deliver." Now, he's right in the thick of it, and they are fighting against him. He's discouraged. Jeremiah has been proclaiming the word of the Lord to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and he immediately felt their wrath. They didn't want to hear a message of correction.
No. They wanted to hear what the other prophets were saying, "Ah, you're all good. You're good. Don't worry. No troubles will come to you. You don't have to worry." Jeremiah's message was, "Oh no, you need to be concerned. There's a storm coming, because your hearts are wrong. You need to come back to revival." They didn't want to hear that. In fact, the people from his own hometown threatened him with bodily harm. That's in chapter 11, right before this, where they said, "Do not prophesy anymore in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand." This is getting serious. God says, "That's running with the footmen. You will have to learn to run with horses. Greater troubles. You ain't seen nothing yet."
The life lesson that comes through this story is that God's going to use the troubles to strengthen Jeremiah to be able to run with horses, to be strong against the thicket of the Jordan. It's really a theme that runs throughout the Bible, that the very things that you think are against you are the very things that God will use to accomplish a greater purpose. The struggles, the trials, the very things that God will use to show His favor and reveal a greater purpose. Greater things are yet to come, and God is preparing you to run with horses.
I. Present Trials are Preparing You
God is strengthening you, even now, for a greater purpose. Let's read chapter 12. We'll just read the first six verses, and then we'll read the other verses Wednesday in our midweek service. Chapter 12, verse 1. Notice how he begins, by declaring that he knows God, that you're righteous. I know you're righteous. "Righteous art thou, O Lord, I know, so that I can plead my case with you. Indeed, I would like to discuss matters of justice with you." Why? Why? He looks, and he sees. Why? "Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all of those who deal treachery at ease? You planted them, they take root, they grow, they produce fruit. You're near to their lips, but far from their mind."
In other words, they're right with God. They're just putting on the look of the thing. Their hearts are far from you, God. They're not right. Then verse 3, he says, "Lord, you know me. You know my heart. You see me. You examine my heart, attitude toward you." Then he brings back his complaint. "So drag them away. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for a day of carnage. How long will the land mourn?" He's seeing that the suffering of the land is attached to their waywardness.
"How long will the vegetation in the countryside wither? Wickedness of those who dwell in it. Animals and birds have been snatched away because men say, 'Oh, He won't see our later ending.'" Then God responds with that famous correction. "If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how will you run with horses? How will you compete against greater troubles? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?" Then he's like, "I understand." Verse 6, "Look, even your brothers and your own household of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. I understand. It's bad. I understand. Even they have cried aloud after you."
Then He says, "Don't believe them, even if they speak nice things to you." There is a betrayal. I understand, but God wants him to see a bigger picture. Bigger picture. In other words, present trials are preparing you. He doesn't minimize Jeremiah's pain. He doesn't deny his weariness. It's real. The opposition is harsh. The loneliness has been crushing. It hurts. Life can hurt. We certainly understand. Life can be hard. We understand. Maybe you're going through a season of grief, or a chronic illness that makes you feel like every day is mile 20 of a race you never signed up to run, or a job that's just so frustrating.
There's politics and gossip and unethical demands that are just draining your soul, or maybe there's a prodigal child that keeps running farther and farther away, farther than it seems your prayers can reach. It's hard to see the bigger picture of what might be happening when you're going through such present pain. I was thinking of an illustration. If you hit your thumb with a hammer, it hurts, and it becomes the most important thing in your life. At that moment, in the big picture of things, it's not all that much, but at that moment, it's the most important thing in your life.
A. Why do the wicked prosper?
In other words, pain and frustration can make you lose your perspective. This is what's happened in Jeremiah. His pain has clouded his view, and he sees things that are not right. They're standing with a wicked intent, treachery. He says, "Look, why do they prosper? Why do the wicked prosper?" Now, notice that Jeremiah is not accusing God. He starts out, "I know God, you are righteous always. I know. I have to ask why do the treacherous seem to thrive? Why do the faithless have barns full of grain and laughing children and zero consequences while your prophet eats tears and pain for breakfast?" His tears and his pain have darkened his understanding, and he can't see through the tears.
Now, we can understand that frustration. If you've ever watched a corrupt politician get richer or seen a cheating spouse walk away unscathed while the faithful one is crushed, you have prayed Jeremiah's prayer, whether you knew this verse or not. There is a perspective. Perspective is everything. How do you interpret the things that you see and experience in life? Now, first, we must shatter the assumption that the appearance of outward success equals divine approval. Now, sometimes the opposite is true. Prosperity is not always a blessing. Prosperity can be a path leading towards judgment or destruction.
When you read those words, it might remind you of the famous Psalm 73, which was written by Asaph. He was in David's court. He was the chief director of worship. He wrote exactly what Jeremiah felt and what other people have felt at various times. Psalm 73. He starts out wonderfully and faithfully, where he says, "I know that God is good to Israel. I know. I know that God is good to those who are pure in heart. My feet came close to stumbling. My steps almost slipped because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. It seems to me they're not in trouble like other men. They're not plagued like mankind. Pride is our necklace. They mock. They speak of opposition. Always at ease, they've increased in wealth. When I pondered to understand that, it was troublesome in my sight."
Then he adds, "Until I came into the sanctuary of my God." He could see now much farther than he could see before. When he came into the sanctuary of God, when he worshipped with his soul, abiding in the glory, he then could see. I perceive their end. Then I could see much farther. Ah, he says, surely you set them in slippery places and cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are destroyed in a moment and suddenly swept away. You see, in Asaph's perspective, it seems like he's defeated and shattered, but then he lifts his head, begins to rise. He came into the sanctuary of God, and he abided in the glory, and it changed everything in his perspective.
Jeremiah, too, is in that place where the pain of that treachery has hurt. He's like, "Why are they at ease?" He didn't seem to understand. They ought to suffer. They ought to be suffering because of their unrighteousness and their wickedness of heart. This is a common understanding. When Job was suffering, one of his friends said that which everyone assumed to be so. There are Scriptural principles that say it. Job 4, where he says, "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble will harvest it." That's actually a true principle. That's actually true. "By the breath of God, they perish, and by the blast of His anger, they come to an end."
For example, it's in Hosea 8:7, "If they sow the wind, they're going to reap the whirlwind." Galatians 6, very famous verse. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for not which a man sows he shall also reap." It's right in there. The principle is there. "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption." This is true. Jeremiah is trying to understand then why isn't it so? What God will show him later in the chapter is that God will settle all accounts. You need a longer view. You need to see farther down. Oh, the Babylonian Empire is going to come. There will be a day of reckoning. Jeremiah, you just need to see farther. God will settle all accounts.
B. God will settle all accounts
There was much that Jeremiah could not see. The pain had clouded his perspective. God will show him, "No, there is a greater purpose yet hidden from your eyes. You need to have a longer view. You need to see it from a different perspective." For example, Romans 9, where Paul writes this. He says, "What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory?"
That's you. This is what he's speaking of. God is very patient toward them, for He has done this, that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, and He is prepared beforehand glory. When Asaph pondered to understand, it troubled him until he came into the sanctuary of God. When he worshipped with the saints, when his soul was made right, it allowed him to see much farther than he could ever see before. He came to understand that God settles all accounts. Surely, you set them in slippery places. Surely you cast them down to destruction.
In other words, a day is coming when the last will be first, when the humble will be exalted, when every tear will be wiped away by the hand of the one who Himself was rich, yet for our sake became poor, so that we, through His poverty, might be blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places forever and ever. Amen and Amen. Can we give God praise. It's a declaration.
II. Greater Things are Yet to Come
That is a blessing no thieves can steal, and no moth can destroy. The message He's speaking to Jeremiah is to see further because greater things are yet to come. The very troubles that weary you today are the very things that God will use to prepare you for greater purpose tomorrow. Perspective is everything. By way of illustration, I'm reminded of the most famous story in the history of Israel. One of the most famous in the history. You will recognize it. The armies of Israel had gathered, had camped in the valley of Elah, grew up in battle array against the Philistines.
The Philistines are on the mountain on one side, Israel stood on the mountain on the other, and there was a valley between them. A Philistine giant came out. Every morning, every evening, the Philistine champion would come out taunting and shouting at the ranks of the armies of Israel, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Send out a man that we may fight." Day after day, the champion stood and shouted his taunts and his insult against the armies of Israel, who were dismayed when they heard it. Were greatly afraid when they heard it.
Then David comes into the scene. David was too young to serve in the armies of Israel, but one day his father sent him the check on his older brothers. They were serving in the armies of Israel. When David entered the camp, and he heard that Philistine giant taunting the armies of Israel, and then he saw that no one came out to face him, a righteous indignation rose in David, and he said, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should dare to taunt the armies of the living God?" This righteous indignation.
When those words that David spoke were heard, someone said it to Saul, who said, "Bring that young man to me." This speech is critical to understand this point of Jeremiah 12. 1 Kings 17. The story unfolds. Saul then said to David, "David, you're not able to fight against this Philistine. You are, but a youth, and he has been a warrior since his youth." Then David said to Saul-- this is very important understanding of faith.
The principle that is revealed is right in Jeremiah 12. David said to Saul, "Look, your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him, i attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth. Then, when it rose up against me, I seized him, struck him, and killed him. Your servant has killed a lion and a bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has dared to taunt the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the lion and from the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Then go, and may the Lord be with you." David declared a principle that he had already faced the lion and already faced a bear, and God did not have to apologize to David that he had to encounter such a challenge of life. Most people go through their lives, they never encounter a lion. David faced a lion and a bear. God didn't have to apologize because God was measuring, God was weighing, God was using David's trouble to prepare him for a greater purpose yet to come.
In fact, I submit to you that without those troubles, David would never have become the captain of Israel. Those very troubles were the very things that God would use to prepare him for that which God had purposed for David's life to become. They were necessary challenges. They were necessary difficulties. They were required in order to make David the man who would fulfill a great purpose of God in his life.
Later, we read that Saul became envious of David, David's success. He betrayed David, turned it about, and now he's pursuing David, kill him. He could see that the anointing of the Lord was on David and that the Lord was preparing to make him the next king of Israel. Saul sought to thwart the will of God by killing David. He pursued him with the armies of Israel. He's pursuing David for 12 years.
Can you imagine? David, at one point, wrote that he was one step away from death. For 12 years, he went on running for his life as Saul pursued him with the armies of Israel he's pursuing David. 12 years. God is going to use these years, all of these difficult years are preparing him for a greater purpose. Can you imagine 12 years? One, two, three, four, five, all these years. During this time, it says that David drew to him all those who were in distress, all those who were in debt, all those who were discontented, and then gathered around David, and David made them some of the mightiest men in the history of Israel.
It's a wonderful story. David understood the point. David understood the principle. He can take the ragtag, malcontents, the rejects of the men of Israel, and make them mighty, because he took those principles of God's heart and he put it to bear into their lives such that they became some of the mightiest men in the history of Israel. One of those is a man named Benaiah. I love Benaiah. He's famous as one of David's great mighty men, accomplishing great feats. It says he was son of Kabzeel, one of the great valiant warriors. It says that he killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day. David made him captain of the royal bodyguard to serve at David's side. What an amazing feat of accomplishment.
I love to imagine scenes unfolding in Scripture. I have this picture in my mind, the scene where a hiring manager is reviewing resumes to recommend someone to hire to be the royal bodyguard. He's going through the resumes, and he's giving interviews. The first candidate comes up, and the hiring manager says, "What are your qualifications?" The applicant says, "I took some classes of security at the University of Jerusalem." "You took some classes? You're studying security? Interesting. Next."
The next candidate comes in. "What's your qualifications?" "I served on the security team at the Jerusalem Square Mall." "You're a mall cop? Interesting. Next." Then in walks Benaiah. I just love imagining this scene. In walks Benaiah, "My name is Benaiah, Son of the great Kabzeel. I killed a lion on a snowy day in a pit." "Now there's a resume. Hire that man." Isn't that the point of a resume? Isn't that the point to show the history of how did you become who you are today?
When you apply for a job, and you are in an interview, one of the most common questions that the interviewer will ask is this. He'll say, "Tell me about some time that you encountered a great trouble, that you encountered a great problem. Then tell me how did you respond to that?" Because they want to know, what are you made of? What do you do when you face great troubles?
If you respond, "Oh, I shrink from troubles. I run when troubles arise," they will look for someone else. They want to know. In fact, Scripture suggests that one of the measures of a man is the size of the problems that he can be victorious through. God is building a story. God is building a story, and your story isn't over yet. God is preparing you for greater things yet to come. That's part of the story of your life. Go back over the history. God and you are building a history.
A. God is preparing you to run with horses
Maybe part of your story is this. You look back on your life, and maybe you can say, "Man, I was messed up. I made a mess of my life, but God got a hold of my life, and God restored and rebuilt, and renewed. God has done a great work in my life." That's part of the story that God is building, but that is building you for something greater still yet to come. In other words, God is preparing you to run with horses. If you run with footmen and they tire you out, how will you run with horses?
There will be greater troubles. Life gets hard, challenges become great. There is greater purpose also in it. I was thinking back. I remember when we were first married, and we had our first baby. I had no idea how difficult it was to have a baby. Night after night, you have to get up. I thought we were never going to get a normal night's sleep. Our first one, Nicole, she had colic, and so we had to get up and take turns every two hours. I had to get up at 6:00 in the morning to go to work.
I know. I'm never going to get any sleep. Little did I know that a time would come when we would have five teenagers in the house at the same time. Oh, there were greater troubles to come. Little did I know that there would come a day when we would have to face unimaginable pain that a parent should never have to face. When our oldest daughter was killed, she was only 29 and the mother of 2 beautiful children. Life gets hard, but God is preparing you for a greater purpose.
Jeremiah's horses are coming. Within a few years, he would stand alone against kings and priests and prophets and the invading Babylonian empire. He would be lowered into a muddy cistern, and they would drop rocks at his head. He was carried captive to Egypt and died in obscurity. Yet his words would outlast every empire that opposed him. His words are still preached 2,600 years later, while the names of his enemies are forgotten in the footnotes of history.
Oh, there are horses yet to come in your life, but there is also greater purpose. God is preparing you maybe for a ministry that you have not even yet imagined, maybe a mission field that you've not yet seen, a mantle of intercession that will shake families or churches, or cities. Maybe a moment will come when you'll have to stand when everyone else sits, or speak when everyone else is silent, or suffer when everyone else compromises, but God will not let you face those horses alone. He loves you too much for that. He will be with you in every battle. He will be with you in every trouble, and He will be with you every step in the journey that is before you. Amen? Let's give the Lord praise. Amen.
In other words, do not despise the day of small beginnings. Don't quit when the race is still just against foot soldiers. Now, God is preparing you to run with horses that you might learn to rely on His strength, that He is a very present help in times of trouble. I was thinking of an illustration. Some of you remember Walter Payton, who was the famous running back for the Chicago Bears. At one point, he had just made another great run, and the announcer said, "Walter Payton has now run 9 miles while carrying the football." The other announcer said, "Yes, and he was knocked out every four and a half yards, too."
You can run farther than you think you can run. David said, "By my God, I can bend a bow of bronze. By my God, I can run upon a troop." By my God is the principle of his faith. God's help makes me great. David, in another place, Psalm 27, wrote, "The Lord is my light, the Lord is my salvation, you tell me whom shall I fear?" If the Lord is the defense of my life, then whom should I dread? Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. The war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident.
This is a great theme. This is one of the great themes that run throughout the Bible. God is teaching you and me a victorious faith such that you would have confidence in Him. You might be surprised to hear this, but God does not want you to be self-confident. I know. It's the mantra of the age. There's all kinds of books, there's all kinds of videos. There's all kinds of the world-- some mantra of the world to teach you how to be self-confident, but God does not want you to be self-confident.
"He doesn't? What does He want? Should I be fearful and insecure?" No, but are those the only two options? No, there is yet still another option. See, the very definition of self-confidence is confidence in self. If your confidence is in self, then you're limited by whatever self is. If you are self-sufficient, then your sufficiency is in self. There is a whole nother aspect of faith. To be confident in God is a whole nother thing altogether. They even understood what many do not understand, how to take living faith and to live it in life, such that your confidence, that victory that God has for you, is because you know in whom you have belief and your confidence is in Him.
B. Troubles are the doorway of hope
I know by God, and I know how He moves, and I know how He moves in my life. My confidence is in my God. For troubles are the very doorway of hope. See, here's what many people miss, that God's hand of favor comes to those who suffer gravely, those who endure great troubles. The trouble, the distress that you're going through becomes the doorway by which hope is given, by which the favor of God is revealed in your life. There will be many troubles in his life, but God blesses those who are steadfast of faith.
I like what Paul wrote to his young son of the faith, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:6-7, where he says, "The time of my departure has come." He's at the end, and he is looking back now over his life, and he said, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I've kept the faith, and in the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord will award me on that day." There is this understanding. Paul writes, "Life is hard, but I have fought the good fight. I have stayed true to the course. I have kept the faith, and I know that there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord will reward me on that day." God blesses faithfulness. Sure, let's give the Lord praise. Amen.
Jeremiah didn't know it yet. There were greater troubles but greater purpose. God would use Jeremiah. The words that Jeremiah speaks are going to be used to strengthen the faith of the entire nation of Israel. God has greater purpose. God is building you toward a point of maturity. God is moving, building, strengthening in you toward a point of maturity such that you would say with the writer of Psalm 112 when he says this-- This is the point of maturity that God is moving you toward. "How blessed is the man who reveres the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands, in His word. He will not fear bad news."
This is a victorious faith. This is the understanding that whatever I encounter in life, no matter what trouble, no matter what distress, no matter what challenge that I encounter, I know my God, I know that He is a very present help in times of trouble, and He will not fear bad news. Notice, because his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld, and he will not fear. This is a point of maturity that God is moving you and me toward.
It's a victorious faith that takes real faith and puts it into real life, such that you would have a victory that stands on that great truth. Psalm 138 speaks of it as well. He writes, "You, God, did this. You made me bold with strength in my soul." God did that. God will strengthen the soul within you. This is what God is doing now. He will strengthen the soul within you. He's moving you toward a point of maturity, a victorious faith. You did this, God. You made me bold with strength in my soul, and though I walk in the midst of trouble, I know my God. I know that, God, you will revive me, that your right hand will save me, that the Lord will accomplish what concerns me today for your loving kindness, O Lord, I know never fails. It is everlasting.
I know my God, and I know how He moves, and I know that He is moving you toward a point of maturity such that your faith would be a real faith that moves in real life. God will strengthen the soul within you, for there are great troubles of this life, but there is great purpose. God is not done yet. Lord, we love you, honor you, and thank you. Your word is amazing. Your heart after us is amazing. Church, how many we say to the Lord today, "God, strengthen my soul. I want to move in every purpose you have for me." I want victorious faith like that. I want faith like that. I want to take real faith and move it into real life. I want to have a confidence in you, and I want to move in the purpose of God in my life. Church, would you raise your hand as a way of just saying that to God?
God, I want to move in every purpose that you have for me. I want that kind of strength in the soul, such that I would've faith, real faith that moves in real life. I know that you're not done yet. I want to move in the purpose that you have for me. Lord, we honor you and thank you. We bless your amazing, powerful name for what you have done in us today, in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen. Let's give the Lord praise and glory and honor. Can we do that? Amen.