In Jeremiah, chapter twelve, verse five, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” This was God’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer in the first four verses of chapter twelve. What Jeremiah endured at the hands of Anathoth was nothing compared to the persecutions yet to come. Therefore, he was to prepare himself with faith and courage to face the greater trials ahead.
When we are most in the dark concerning God’s dispensations, we must keep right thoughts of God, believing that He never did the least wrong to any of his creatures. When we find it hard to understand any of his dealings with us, or others, we must look to general truths as our first principles, and abide by them: the Lord is righteous. The God with whom we have to do, knows how our hearts are toward him. He knows both the guile of the hypocrite and the sincerity of the upright. Divine judgments would pull the wicked out of their pasture as sheep for the slaughter.
This fruitful land was turned into barrenness for the wickedness of those who dwelt therein. The Lord reproved the prophet. The opposition of the men of Anathoth was not so formidable as what he must expect from the rulers of Judah. Our grief that there should be so much evil is often mixed with peevishness for the trials it occasions us. And in this our favoured day, and under our trifling difficulties, let us consider how we should behave if called to sufferings like those of saints in former ages.
However, saints should not murmur or complain.