Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 326 · November 22
Running With Footmen
“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?”
Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? A man asks that out of his own life, and asks a second question after it about why the treacherous are happy, having watched both at close range: Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit. He is not being clever. He wants an answer.
The reply is your verse, and the complaint against it is fair. He asked why the wicked prosper and was given no reason at all. What came back was a question about his stamina and a promise that conditions will get worse. 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? The swelling of Jordan is the thicket by the river when it floods and the animals come out. The line is quoted now as an invitation to raise your game, and it was said to a man whose own family was in on the plot: For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee. All of it came true. He ended in a cistern, then in Egypt against his will.
Something does come back, though it is not an answer. Two verses on, God begins grieving over the same country: I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. The question is met by a fellow mourner. If you have one that size, it is welcome here at that size. Bring the question you actually have, and expect to be told what is coming rather than talked out of asking.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 326 is Victory Through Faith (1 John 5:4).