The Nuts and Bolts of Staying on Mission
Fight the Footmen. Run with the Horses.
A fighter jet’s greatest threat may not be enemy fire in a dogfight.
It may be something as small as a stray bolt left on the flight line.
Jet engines act like giant vacuums. One loose piece of hardware sucked into the intake can ground an aircraft before it ever reaches its target.
That is why the Navy conducts regular sweeps for FOD — Foreign Object Debris.
Sailors line up shoulder-to-shoulder sweeping the flight line for anything that could damage an engine or puncture a tire.
These little things can become big problems.
How many times do we let the small, stray pieces of debris keep us off mission?
Long before fighter jets, the prophet Jeremiah ran into his own version of this battle.
Commissioned to warn Judah of coming exile if they refused to repent, Jeremiah was hated for his calling. He was beaten, imprisoned, and tossed into a muddy pit.
God’s word is not always popular, but it is always true.
The burden wore on Jeremiah, whose plight earned him the name The Weeping Prophet. One of his laments appears in Jeremiah 12, where he pleads with God to understand why the wicked seem to thrive.
God does not directly answer Jeremiah’s complaint.
Instead, He tells him to prepare for harder battles ahead.
“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
Then how can you contend with horses?
And if in the land of peace,
In which you trusted, they wearied you,
Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
— Jeremiah 12:5 (NKJV)
The footmen were infantry in ancient armies consisting of farmers and tradesmen conscripted for seasonal campaigns. They were the first wave of battle — essentially the pawns.
Behind these footmen were the more formidable horse-mounted cavalry.
God’s point with this battlefield imagery was simple:
If smaller battles wear you out now, how will you endure larger ones later?
If you are swept off the board by the pawns, you lack the vision to compete with the knights and rooks.
If you get taken down by FOD, you will never get off the deck to the actual target.
This is a call for spiritual endurance that we all need — because we all face footmen.
Here is how we must fight the footmen to stay on target.
Look at Your Problems
Are your problems footmen, horses—or worse?
God also asks Jeremiah how he will fare in the floodplains of the Jordan — territory associated with lions.
Like Jeremiah, we often magnify our struggles.
Most of us are not losing battles to catastrophic collapse.
We are losing them to distraction, discouragement, comparison, bitterness, exhaustion, and compromise.
We see the apparent blessings of others and assume God has forgotten us.
This does not diminish footmen problems.
If anything, Jeremiah 12:5 promises their existence — in large numbers.
We can either expect opposition and prepare for it, or spend our lives shocked by its arrival.
We would also be wise to remember the victories God has already granted us.
You recreate what you celebrate.
Celebrate the battles that God has led you through to give you strength for the next wave of footmen.
Look at Your Defenses
This is where we need to learn the art of the FOD walk.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with other believers is a powerful spiritual discipline.
Isolation is deadly.
Footmen aren’t meant to be fought alone.
The best way to run with horses is to train alongside them.
Build endurance by surrounding yourself with spiritual thoroughbreds who push you, sharpen you, and hold you accountable.
Iron can’t sharpen iron without friction and sparks.
Look at God
Jeremiah’s story reminds us that God does not always remove the battle.
Sometimes He prepares us through it.
“God never calls us to contend with horsemen until He has trained us through the strain of contending with footmen.” — G. Campbell Morgan.
Some footmen may be spiritual warfare.
That means you are standing on ground the enemy wants to claim.
Many believers have testified that seasons of spiritual victory are often followed by intensified spiritual opposition.
Whether our footmen are trials permitted by God or attacks from the enemy, we can endure them knowing God is sovereign over both.
Small battles may be preparing us for larger ones ahead.
Don’t lose the battle to a loose bolt.
Fight the footmen — and stay on mission.
Mountain Mover
Make a list of your footmen. Where are you facing opposition?
Make a list of your victories. What battles has God already led you through?
Pray over both lists.
Ask God to strengthen you in your battles, and give Him praise for those already won.
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I absolutely loved this article! This really spoke to me… thank you🧓