I really need help with these verses.?

Question

Someone told me to read this, and I was wondering what it meant when it said in verse 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, [b]
       how will you manage in the thickets by [c] the Jordan?
any help would be good, if you can tell me what it means.

1 You are always righteous, O 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, O 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 [a]
       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."
God's Answer
 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, [b]
       how will you manage in the thickets by [c] the Jordan?

 6 Your brothers, your own family—
       even they have betrayed you;
       they have raised a loud cry against you.
       Do not trust them,
       though they speak well of you.

 7 "I will forsake my house,
       abandon my inheritance;
       I will give the one I love
       into the hands of her enemies.

 8 My inheritance has become to me
       like a lion in the forest.
       She roars at me;
       therefore I hate her.

 9 Has not my inheritance become to me
       like a speckled bird of prey
       that other birds of prey surround and attack?
       Go and gather all the wild beasts;
       bring them to devour.

 10 Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
       and trample down my field;
       they will turn my pleasant field
       into a desolate wasteland.

 11 It will be made a wasteland,
       parched and desolate before me;
       the whole land will be laid waste
       because there is no one who cares.

 12 Over all the barren heights in the desert
       destroyers will swarm,
       for the sword of the LORD will devour
       from one end of the land to the other;
       no one will be safe.

 13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
       they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
       So bear the shame of your harvest
       because of the LORD's fierce anger."

 14 This is what the LORD says: "As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15 But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. 16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives'-even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. 17 But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it," declares the LORD.

Thank you so much!!!!!!

Haze · Accepted Answer

Please put which chapter of the Bible these verses are from then maybe we can do some research and help you

Anonymous · Answer

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, [b]
how will you manage in the thickets by [c] the Jordan?

I interpret it as "if you can't handle the little problems, how on earth are you supposed to handle the bigger problems"...in other words: starting off crawling before you walk would be a good idea. Tackle the smaller problems first.

Jesus is Alive · Answer

I understand  "If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?" like this:

An athlete doesn't get good at his sport by just sitting around doing nothing. He learns to play the game, he gets better by playing the game and by preparing himself by practicing and sometimes enduring some pain.  

As a saying goes, "No pain, no gain"

I think that  what this verse is saying. How can you endure anything if your endurance is never tested. It is when you test endurance that endurance grows. 

"If you stumble in safe country, [b]
how will you manage in the thickets by [c] the Jordan?"
This one to me it means that if you fall when it easy, how will you handle it when it is hard.  Hardships lets you learn. When you fall, you get up, think, and try again, and again, and again.  Again, it builds endurance. But if you fall when it is easy and it never gets hard eventually you won't fall anymore since from the fall you have learned what to do to not fall again but then if it never gets harder you don't build your endurance, and when something hard does come, what will happen? Most likely, you WILL fall, but you may not get up, you may think I can't, it is too hard, and you will give up.

Again, I think that  what this verse is saying. How can you endure anything if your endurance is never tested. It is when you test endurance that endurance grows. 

In the verses the person is asking "why?" and God's reply is "to build your endurance" 

See God doesn't want us to give up.

? · Answer

It means how can you write a test for a driver's license when you are only 5 months old. Get fit to it,man.

? · Answer

It's figurative; if you can't keep your virtue among men & hardship, how do you expect to enter Heaven?

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I really need help with these verses.?

5 Answers