Can You Run with the Horses?

If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain (“swelling” KJV; “thicket” ESV) of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5 NKJV)

God’s Challenge: Can
You Run with the Horses?

  1. Overcoming excuses: Jeremiah, ‘I am just a boy!’ 1:6. God can grow you into a man!
  2. Inadequacies: Not smart enough, don’t have enough time, energy, money, not tall enough, too tall, not strong enough. Get over the “I Can’ts”!
  3. Criticism: rebuke, scorn, personal attacks, hatred of you as a Christian
  4. Rejection: by family, relatives, friends, neighbors
  5. Works of the flesh: immorality, lust, envy, sin, temptations
  6. Philosophies: atheism, agnosticism, ignorance, false teaching, anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible
  7. Politics: laws against true religion, laws restricting freedom
[Editor’s Note: The primary ‘can do’ passage for Christians is, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Remember, God became angry with Moses when he offered a series of excuses (Exodus 3:14). Certainly, we do not want God to become angry with us because we offered excuses instead of faithful service (Hebrews 9:14; 12:28). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]

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