RUNNING WITH HORSES

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 are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? 

- Jeremiah 12:5

I want to run with horses.

Really, I do.

And I want to stand and fight in the thicket of the Jordan.

Well, I think I do, at least in the comfort and safety of the Walter Mitty world inside my tiny brain.

When I read accounts of my sisters and brothers in Christ who are being persecuted - even killed - for their faith, I wonder, "Would I have such courage? Such unwavering faith? Such endurance?" I want to believe that I could live well under severe affliction. I want to believe that I could die well, too.

But I'm not so sure...

I consider that today my spirits are low because I feel like so much of my labor has been in vain. My heart is bruised because I feel like I have been marginalized. Someone glibly dismissed my earnest concerns. Another someone snubbed me. Unkind words wound; so does being ignored or misrepresented or the subject of gossip.

And so with a downcast spirit, I curl up and lick my wounds and wonder why loving Christ and loving the body of Christ sometimes hurts so much. Shouldn't this be easier? Shouldn't this be joyful?!

Then I remember my brothers and sisters in Christ, living and dying in hostile places on the other side of the world. Theirs is a great honor - their Savior has deemed them fit to suffer well and to die well for Him. They really do run with horses. They really do stand in the thicket of the Jordan.

Me, I have only raced with men on foot, and yet I am weary and I stumble.

But I am not completely downcast, because these runners-with-horses give me hope and revive my drooping spirits. To their weak sister, who bumbles and stumbles around like a baby who is just learning to walk, they give a parting gift...

Through their faithfulness and sacrifice, they encourage me:  "Get up, little sister! Get back in the race! Persevere. Press on. Strengthen your weak legs...you may yet one day run with horses!"