Jeremiah 12:1-3 – “Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you.  However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.  Why are wicked people successful?  Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?  ² You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.  They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.  They always talk about you, but they really care nothing about you.  ³ But you, Lord, know all about me.  You watch me and test my devotion to you.  Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered!  Appoint a time when they will be killed!”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, an age-old question surfaced.   “Why do the wicked prosper and go unscathed?” How many times have we asked or wondered, “Lord, how long will you let them get away with their evil?  How long will you let your people suffer in contrast?” Maybe you have never entertained those thoughts I have.

Jeremiah 12:1-3, Jeremiah cries out those questions.  He even said, “But You, O Yahweh, You know me; You see me; and test my heart’s attitude toward You.”    You let them get away with murder and examine me in my attitude as well as my actions.

Jeremiah’s focus was on people, not God.  His question was about fairness, comparing himself to others.   He was assuming a level of righteousness, wisdom, knowledge, and judgment solely reserved for God.  That is a dangerous place.  It is a condition that leads to separation, not restoration or transformation.

In my time of questions, God did with me what He did with Jeremiah: He let me stew in his dissatisfaction and wrong focus, then He responded.

Jeremiah 12:5 – “IF you have run with the footmen (the people you are focused on) and they have tired you out, THEN how can you compete with horses?  IF you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?”

Jeremiah, if those people cause you this much pain and occupy this much of your thoughts, how will you ever stand?  Your focus is wrong, causing you to ask the wrong questions.  Your focus is on them, but it is actually on you as you compare yourself to others.   In doing this, you are questioning My love, grace, mercy, wisdom, Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnipotence.   You are falling into Adam’s trap and voting Me out as God and voting yourself in.  You are losing your Trust, and if you lose your Trust, you won’t make it.

Titus 2:11-14 gives a beautiful revelation about God and life.   God’s Grace is for everyone.  God’s Grace is a teacher and focuses on the individual heart.  God’s Grace always points to eternity.

• If we focus on the wrong thing, we think wrong. 
• If we think wrong, we tend to live wrong.  
• If we focus on Grace to us, we cease comparing ourselves and our situation to others.

The full impact and fruit of “Christ in us” becomes a manifested reality.  That truth keeps us in peace.   In peace, we have rest.   In peace, we tap into God’s power.   I can control nothing outside of me.   If I give 100% of myself to God and die to me, the external has no lasting impact.  In the storm, I can be calm because my focus is right, my surrender complete, and my trust grounded.   

I pray for others; I do not compare myself to others.  In that sense, I am working out my own salvation!  For everyone, there will be a final accounting, but that’s not my responsibility.  I’m responsible for myself!  I have found peace in that.  Lord, don’t let the footmen weary me!  Help me to focus on You!  I trust You!

May the Lord enable us to see the right questions instead of lamenting over things above our pay grade!