Why Do the Wicked Prosper? Going THROUGH Hard Times (Not Around)

Devotional

Day 1: Through Fire, Not Around It

When life feels like an all-consuming blaze, God often calls us to walk straight into the heat rather than seek escape routes. Like Daenerys stepping into flames to birth dragons, our trials forge new strength and purpose. The fire that threatens to destroy becomes the very thing that reveals our God-given identity. Resistance isn’t failure—it’s the furnace where faith becomes unshakable. What looks like ruin is often the birthplace of miracles. [58:10]

“When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:2-3, NIV)

Reflection: What “fire” have you been avoiding out of fear? How might stepping into it—instead of around it—reveal God’s purpose for this season?

Day 2: Racing With Horses After Men

Exhaustion from today’s battles is training for tomorrow’s victories. God uses small struggles to build endurance for greater callings, like an athlete progressing from footraces to chariot races. Jeremiah’s weariness with critics wasn’t a dead end—it was preparation to outpace empires. What drains you now is developing muscles you’ll need later. [39:44]

“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you feel “worn out” by ordinary challenges? How might God be conditioning you through this for a future only He sees?

Day 3: Dead Ends That Qualify You

What feels like a blocked path is often God’s qualifying exam. The Israelites’ Red Sea crisis became their miracle resume. Jeremiah’s unanswered prayers trained him to trust God’s timing over his own. Stuck places aren’t punishments—they’re proving grounds where faith earns authority. [45:00]

“He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.” (Psalm 18:19, NIV)

Reflection: What current “dead end” frustrates you most? How could surrendering it to God transform it into a credential for your next assignment?

Day 4: Complaints as Holy Conversations

Jeremiah’s raw honesty with God wasn’t rebellion—it was intimacy. God invites our anguished “why” questions like a father listening to a child’s scraped-knee tears. Lament clears the air for fresh revelation. Our doubts in the dark become altars where we rediscover His presence. [36:08]

“Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1, NIV)

Reflection: What complaint have you bottled up as “unspiritual”? How might voicing it to God—like Jeremiah did—deepen your trust in His character?

Day 5: Process Over Answers

God often prioritizes our growth over our comfort. When Jeremiah demanded explanations, God reframed his pain as preparation. Our obsession with “why” distracts; His focus on “who” transforms. Every unanswered prayer is an invitation to know the Promise Keeper more than the promise itself. [40:21]

“But the Lord said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)

Reflection: Where are you demanding answers instead of embracing God’s presence? How might releasing the need to understand free you to experience His power?

Sermon Summary

Jeremiah 12 opens with a prophet bringing a case before the Lord. Jeremiah knows God is righteous, and Jeremiah still asks the hard question: why do the wicked prosper, and why do faithless people live at ease? Jeremiah has been doing what God called him to do, speaking truth to Judah, calling people back to righteousness, and still the road has gotten hard. Jeremiah has enemies, death threats, rumors, and people plotting because serving the Lord does not mean everybody is going to like it.

Jeremiah gives voice to the tension that righteous people know too well. The wicked look planted, rooted, growing, and bearing fruit, while their lips say God and their hearts stay far from him. Jeremiah is not throwing away faith by complaining. Jeremiah is bringing the complaint to the only safe place big enough to hold it.

God answers, but God does not answer with warm and fuzzies. God says, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” God is not mainly trying to make Jeremiah understand every reason behind the pain. God is developing him. God is showing him that the hard thing is not always the problem, sometimes the hard thing is the process.

The question presses the heart of the matter: through, not around. God is not calling Jeremiah to stop every time life gets difficult. God is asking what Jeremiah will do now that the complaint has been spoken. If there is no other way forward, then the choice is to stay stuck or go through.

What feels like a dead end is qualifying Jeremiah for what comes next. The men on foot are not the final race. The horses are coming, and today’s lesson is preparing tomorrow’s strength. God does not deny that rejection, abandonment, rigged rules, and unjust people are real. God reveals that these things can be part of the making.

The fire does not always mean destruction. The fire can be the place where hidden life hatches, where eggs become dragons, where the next chapter becomes possible. God is the way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, not as a song lyric only, but as lived truth. The believer learns who God is when life feels like it might break everything, and then finds out that God was there the whole time.

Key Takeaways

1. Complaints belong before God [38:22] Jeremiah brings his frustration to God instead of pretending everything is fine. Faith does not require fake toughness or a smile pasted over pain. A holy complaint becomes dangerous only when it runs away from God instead of toward him. [38:22]
2. Hard things can be process [47:42] God does not tell Jeremiah that his pain is imaginary. God reveals that rejection, opposition, and unfairness may still be part of becoming. The problem is not always proof that something went wrong, sometimes the problem is the place where strength is being built. [47:42]
3. More waits beyond struggle [55:07] God’s “more” stands on the other side of difficult things, not always on the other side of escape. The easy road may look like mercy, but it can leave a person unready for horses. The hard road can become the classroom where the next level of calling is learned. [55:07]
4. Fire reveals what can survive [57:35] The fire looks like it will consume everything, but the fire can also reveal what God has hidden inside. Some things only hatch in heat. The place that looks like an ending can become the place where the next chapter finally starts breathing. [57:35]
5. God stays in the hard place [49:23] The breaking point becomes a revelation when destruction does not get the final word. The believer may feel surrounded, threatened, and worn out, yet still discover, “I’m still standing.” God’s presence is not proven only by ease, but by preservation in the middle of what should have taken somebody out. [49:23]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[12:24] - Worship: Way Maker
[24:52] - Knowing the Miracle Worker
[26:40] - Jeremiah Brings His Case
[29:40] - Through, Not Around
[31:36] - Even the Righteous Complain
[33:32] - Serving God Can Bring Enemies
[35:34] - Jeremiah Questions God’s Justice
[39:27] - God Flips the Script
[42:39] - There Is More Than This
[45:00] - Dead Ends Qualify What’s Next
[49:23] - Still Standing in the Fire
[53:30] - Stop Looking for Easy Street
[55:41] - Fire Proves What Can Handle It
[60:44] - Invitation to Keep Moving

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Jeremiah 12:1-5 (NIV)
1 You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? 2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. 3 Yet you know me, Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! 4 How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, “He will not see what happens to us.” 5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”

Observation Questions

What specific frustrations does Jeremiah bring to God in verses 1-4? How does he contrast the lives of the wicked with his own experience?
How does God respond to Jeremiah’s complaint in verse 5? What analogy does He use to reframe Jeremiah’s perspective?
In the sermon, what examples were given of situations where “the hard thing is the process” rather than a problem to avoid? (e.g., “fire can reveal what God has hidden inside” [57:35])

Interpretation Questions

Why might God choose to answer Jeremiah’s complaint with a challenge (“If you have raced with men on foot…”) instead of explaining His reasons for allowing injustice?
The sermon says, “What feels like a dead end is qualifying you for what’s next” [45:00]. How does this idea connect to God’s purpose in allowing Jeremiah’s struggles?
How does the analogy of “racing with horses” (v. 5) redefine the role of hardship in a believer’s life? What does it suggest about God’s expectations for His people?

Application Questions

When have you felt like Jeremiah—doing what’s right but facing opposition or weariness? What would it look like to bring that frustration honestly to God instead of pretending it doesn’t exist?
The sermon says, “The fire looks like it will consume everything, but it can also reveal what God has hidden inside” [57:35]. What “fire” are you walking through now, and how could it be preparing you for what’s next?
God’s response to Jeremiah implies that current struggles are training for greater challenges. What practical step could you take this week to lean into a difficult situation as preparation rather than resisting it?
The phrase “through, not around” [29:40] suggests God often calls us to endure rather than escape. Is there a situation you’ve been trying to avoid that God might be asking you to walk through? How would surrendering to that process change your perspective?
The sermon emphasizes that God’s presence is proven “by preservation in the middle of what should have taken somebody out” [49:23]. When have you experienced this kind of preservation? How does that memory strengthen your trust in God’s faithfulness today?

Sermon Clips

56s

#FromDeadEndToDestiny

“``Because and this is this is the key and if you take notes, I encourage you to write this down because what feels like a dead end is qualifying you for what's next. What feels like a dead end, the righteous are getting ahead. Everybody's coming at Jeremiah saying, I'm doing the work of the lord, but I can't get ahead. Nobody's listening. They're not changing their ways. I'm saying get right and they still staying wrong. I'm saying return to the lord and they're still worshiping these other gods. I'm saying destruction is around the corner, and they're still going full speed in that direction. It doesn't seem as though get nothing's doing right that I'm not accomplishing my path. And God said, this is not a dead end. This is qualifying you for what's to come because this is the the the dance in the text. Because if you can learn today's lesson, you'll be ready for tomorrow's journey.”

57s

#StillStandingFaith

“I see if I was a bread preacher, somebody would throw something. Let me try it again. It's when you're in the place where you feel as though you are going to be shattered in a thousand pieces, and then you match that with the reality that I'm still standing. I'm walking through hell with gasoline on my shoes, but I'm not burning. I'm standing in the lion's den. He's looking at me like I'm lunch, but he's not taking a move. I'm standing with the enemy looking at me in the eye, but he can't get to me. And when I see that I'm not destroyed, I learned the lesson that it was not for me to be on easy street. It was for me to be in this and see that I'm never by myself. But even when I'm going down, God is right by my side.”

72s

#ProcessNotProblem

“It was part of the process that you would lead people in the right direction and they would still turn their back on you. It was part of the process that you would show up for everybody else and they would abandon you. It was part of the process that you would do everything they told you to do, and the rules will still be changed and rigged against you. It was part of the process that you would be what you needed to be, and then things still would go a different way. Now that you realize it, will you go through it or will you quit? And I came by Freedom Today to encourage somebody. Don't let the problem cause you to stop. Let your problem say this is part of the process. And if this is happening, then I'm believing that God is gonna show me what I need to do. Because we do not get to where God is calling us without going through something that we feel like is gonna break us. One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn in life is that it's not until you feel like something is gonna break you that you can get through it.”

81s

#PurposeInPain

“Who is this sermon for today? I believe there's more God has for us. More stands the other side of struggle. More stands on the other side of difficult things. And maybe, just maybe, some of what you are experiencing today is not because of something you've done wrong. Don't live and I wanna speak this into somebody's life. I come against this spirit today. Don't live your life always looking for what you did wrong to cause what you're in. Some things God allows permits to happen because there's something in you that needs to come forth. And sometimes he arranges situations to blow up in our face so that he can show us we can handle fire.”

Ask a question about this sermon

Rev. Joshua A Thomas This sermon · AI assistant

What is the purpose of spiritual suffering?

How does God develop believers through hardship?

What does through not around mean?

Why Do the Wicked Prosper? Going THROUGH Hard Times (Not Around) | Jeremiah 12 Sermon