There are occasions when we’ve been given a task or an assignment, and we just don’t feel qualified, or feel that we have the skills or experience to sufficiently complete that task. Several people in the Bible did not feel they were qualified or had the experience to do the task that the Lord gave to them. The great Old Testament prophet Jeremiah was one who felt that way when the Lord commissioned him to bring His message to the people of Judah. Jeremiah knew that this assignment from the Lord was a great and vitally important one, and he felt unqualified and not fit to carry it through. In our Old Testament Scripture passage for this week we will read the Lord’s response to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was a prophet of Yahweh, who began his ministry during the middle of the reign of King Josiah of Judah (around 626 BC), and preached on until following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 587 BC. He later accompanied a small group of Jewish people who fled into Egypt, where he later died. When the Lord first called Jeremiah into His service, he was a young man. Rather than feeling proud and bursting with ego that he had a big preaching assignment from God, as some young people might feel, Jeremiah felt he was unworthy to bring God’s message to the people, particularly to the religious leaders in Jerusalem.
God responded to Jeremiah protests. He told the prophet that He knew him, and the sovereign plans He had for him before he was even conceived (vs. 5). The Apostle Paul had a similar realization, that God had called him to be His servant and bring His message even before he was born (Galatians 1:15-16). There were others in the Bible who God had plans to use in special ways, even before they were born. Samson was one, (Judges 13:3-5), and John the Baptist was another (Luke 1:13-17).
God has a plan for our lives. We are not accidents, or exist by chance. The Lord formed us long before we took our first breath. He knows us by name. He will work in and through us in a powerful way when we obey Him. When we feel discouraged or inadequate, remember that God has always thought of us as valuable, and that He has a purpose in mind for us.
Jeremiah responded by saying that he could not go and preach God’s message, as he was too young and inexperienced. He wasn’t a child, but a young man. Still, he did not feel able to go into Jerusalem, both the political and religious capital of the nation, and confront the political and religious leaders for their sins and failings before God. However, God promised to be with him. If God gives us a job to do, He will provide all that we need to do it (vs. 7-8). When we surrender to Him, the Lord will provide us with the strength and wisdom to carry out His tasks, along with providing any financial or material backing that we need.
Knowing the religious leaders, and how they had attacked, both verbally and sometimes physically the prophets of the past, Jeremiah feared the same treatment. Yet Yahweh promised to rescue and deliver him from trouble (vs. 8). He did not promise Jeremiah that there would be no trouble, as attacks would come, but promised He would be there with him if he fully obeyed. Jeremiah went through jailing because of the messages he preached. He was physically assaulted, went hungry, and suffered all sorts of insults and abuse because of preaching God’s Word, yet God never abandoned him. He told Jeremiah, “I am with you.” God does not keep us from encountering life’s storms, but He will see us through them.
The message that Jeremiah brought to the people was not just something he pulled out of his own mind, but was instead God’s message, God’s Words (vs. 9). God appointed Jeremiah to bring His Word to nations and kingdoms, (vs. 10), warning about His judgment on sin.
God’s plan for us is perfect, not subject to the whims of man and uncertainties of the world. Whatever our circumstances are, God calls us to stand on the Solid Rock of His Word, and take shelter in His promises.
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