In Jeremiah 1:4-10, we can see the calling of Jeremiah;
” 4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. 9 Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.” “
We all know about embryo formations, that is the first thing that happens when a baby is conceived in the mother’s womb. Here we can see God knew Jeremiah even before he was formed in His mother’s womb. When Jeremiah was a microscopic speck God knew him and consecrated him to be be a prophet to the nations. So we can understand here so clearly that God had an eye on Jeremiah even before he was there in his mother’s womb. In 1 Peter 1:20 it says “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world”. This is the greatest privilege and encouragement for us to know that God had an eye on us even before we were conceived in our mother’s womb. He has a plan for you and me just as he had a plan for Jeremiah
Imagine when Jeremiah went through all his difficulties how his thoughts must have motivated him, that God has foreseen me even before I was formed in my mother’s womb. God has a plan for me and he had planned everything for my life, the starting till the end even before I was formed and I am going to yield to God utterly. Dear brothers and sisters, when we face discouragement we should have that attitude and this will definitely motivate us and make us humble to fulfill what God has planned for our life. God has also given us a choice, so it is very important that we yield to God utterly and to His plans. We should be humble enough to ask God to reveal His plans and purposes for our lives at each stage so that He may be able to help us to fulfill it. When we have trials and difficulties we have to believe that God is faithful and His plans will be fulfilled.
Secondly in verse 6 we can see Jeremiah saying “I don’t know how to speak and I am young”. It is amazing to see God pick up prophets who do not know how to speak. We can see the same with Moses, how God filled Moses to fulfill His plans for his life. The same with Jeremiah, God promised that whatever God is commanding him to do he should do without fear because in the midst of difficulty he is always there to deliver us and he will put in his mouth the word of God. Imagine if the ruler of a country is your close friend. How much confidence you will have when you deal with people and even at your work place! We should live with that same confidence knowing that whatever happens our way our God had already planned out for our life and He is always there to deliver us and fill our mouth with His words.
It is also to be noticed that if God is allowed to break you then He will fill you with His Holy Spirit. He can also make you His spokesman like that. It all depends on your walk with God. Don’t ever think that you have to wait till you get older to start serving the Lord. If God is filling us with His spirit and putting His words in our mouth, what more confidence we need to face people to stand as God’s witness? The same thing we can see in Isaiah’s calling as well. He filled and put His word in Isaiah’s mouth. So it is very important that as soon you get a burden in your heart, seek God to be filled with His Holy Spirit. It may be a fulfillment of God’s purpose in your life as a child of God. Let us try not to miss God’s plan for our life. Like Samuel we should have a heart to say “Here I am Lord”. All true prophets have this advantage that is mentioned in verse 8, that He is there to deliver us no matter what. This is the way we should serve the Lord. When we obey His call it is noticeable how the Lord gives us His ministry as a fulfillment of His calling and purpose.
In Jeremiah’s life he had to tear down the old structure to bring up the new. The world and the present Christendom are unwilling to do this. As written in Mathew 9:16, we need to throw away the old garment and start afresh. Jeremiah had to do 4 things first to complete God’s work in His life. First he had to pluck up, break up, destroy and overthrow to complete God’s work to “build and to plant”. Let us hold fast our confession of faith without wavering, because He who began a good work will complete it just like in the life of Jeremiah. May our prayer be that “Lord, reveal your plans for me. I am available for you, though I am weak you have filled me with your word so that I can stand strong”. May God help us to do His blessed well and may he reveal His plans and purposes in life.
God bless.
