Endurance

Today's passage:  Jeremiah 42

I hate running. I've always hated running. I remember having to do a track unit in high school where we trained to run the mile and for the majority of the P.E. hour we ran.  And every night, before or after dinner, I tossed my cookies (and broccoli, chicken, potatoes, or whatever else we had eaten that night.)  Sorry for that visual, but it's important to show how my body rebelled against running.  Walking, cycling, aerobics I could handle just fine, just please don't make me run.  But as much as I hate to say this, running probably does things for me that other exercise can't and won't do.  I think of cross-country runners (a sport a couple of my nieces love and I just happen to think they are crazy--just kidding 😜), and the pace and discipline it takes to maneuver uneven terrain or the ups and downs of the hills.  Going uphill is hard!  Downhill might seem easier, but depending on the incline, it takes almost as much stamina and energy to resist the pull of gravity.  And the pounding of feet to ground can be brutal on the body. However, the muscle and endurance those girls build from that activity probably surpasses my aerobics.

In Jeremiah, the kingdom of Judah has endured a lot.  Babylon ransacked Jerusalem, took the inhabitants captive, and left behind a scene of desolation and despair.  Jeremiah was being held prisoner in the north, but he told the Jews this would all happen.  Finally released, Jeremiah goes to the newly appointed governor of Judah:  Gedaliah.  Gedaliah, a grandson of Josiah, has been appointed by King Nebudchadnezzar and tells the people they have nothing further to fear from the king of Babylon if they just do as they're told.  But not everyone is excited about this plan, and seven months into his governorship, Gedaliah and many of the residents of Mizpah are murdered, their bodies dumped into a pit.  I'm still not clear on the motivations of Ishmael, the perpetrator of this crime.  Even reading back in II Kings 25 which gives another account of these acts, doesn't make it completely clear for me. Guess that's a study for another time.  But I do know that the survivors are frightened.  They don't know where to go or what to do.  Then they remember that Jeremiah's prophecies have come true so far and he  has been one of the few faithful men to declare God's message.  Usually it isn't what they want to hear.  And this time is no exception.  Because this remnant has already decided plans for tomorrow.  Egypt.  They are confident it would be better to flee to the land of the pharaohs than to risk Judah's unstable future.  Why not?  With Judah in turmoil, wouldn't it be safer to flee?  Wouldn't it be easier than rebuilding, than being fearful, than having to trust again?  Imagine their surprise--and disdain--when God through Jeremiah tells them to stay put.  That if they continue in their human wisdom, the opposite will happen; they will face certain death.  But, as so often has been the case with God's people , they decide not to listen and to pursue the plans they have already made.  Their hearts and minds were decided and they really only wanted God and Jeremiah's blessing for what they have already determined.

We're much the same way.  Surrounded by the hard stuff in life, nobody wants to walk through it.  I know I don't.  I'd rather escape, find an easier way, avoid God's plan when it is harder than what I'd envisioned.  Here in Jeremiah, God promises the ones who stay that Babylon will no longer be a menace.  Taskmasters, yes, but not oppressors.  God promises them that their homes and lives will flourish, even though the torched gardens and tumble-down walls paint an opposite picture.

 And God gives us those same promises.  Of course we want easier and shorter and lighter.  That is our human nature.  I don't want to run.  I'd rather exercise in a way that doesn't cause my body to respond with nausea and puking.  But God knows running will develop endurance in my life in ways other things can't.  He knows that the trials and tribulations I would rather flee from will make me stronger and more stable.  He knows that my feeble wisdom and plans, though safer in my eyes, will not produce the necessary fruit in my life.  If I remember that He is there with me through the ups and downs, through the pounding my heart and mind are likely to take, and I stop making a fuss when He puts me through my paces, I might just find that He's building something in me. Maybe, like He tells us in II Timothy 2:3, he's helping us develop endurance.  "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."