Jeremiah 12:5-6
Faithful servants of God must be prepared for increasing trials and opposition, trusting God to sustain them through greater difficulties ahead.
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?
6 For 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.
Faithful servants of God must be prepared for increasing trials and opposition, trusting God to sustain them through greater difficulties ahead.
To confront Jeremiah with the reality that greater trials lie ahead and to warn him that betrayal will arise even from those closest to him.
Following Jeremiah’s lament about the prosperity of the wicked in 12:1–4, the LORD answers the prophet with a challenge that prepares him for greater trials ahead in his ministry.
Jeremiah’s ministry unfolds during a time of national rebellion when prophetic warnings were widely rejected, leading to growing hostility toward God’s messengers.
When the Wicked Prosper and the LORD’s Inheritance Is Trampled
The righteous LORD sees the prosperity of the wicked, strengthens his suffering prophet for greater trials, judges his corrupted inheritance, and yet holds out future compassion even for the nations that learn his ways.