Rev. Thomas Shepherd, Pastor
Stuart United Methodist Church
Jeremiah 1:4-10
I don’t know about you but for me if I’m in a vehicle I like to be the one driving. I like to be in control.
We like to think we are in control of our lives, but are we really? In life, in our Christian walk, if we really want to see real change we must be willing to get out of the driver’s seat and let Jesus take the wheel. When we allow that to happen—everything changes.
In our passage from Jeremiah 1:4-10 we see the Lord call Jeremiah to be one of His prophets while he is still a very young boy. The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” This is an important concept for us to understand. Before you were ever born, God knew you!
Jeremiah responded “Oh no, Lord, GOD! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am only a boy.”
It is believed that Jeremiah was in his teens when God called him. That helps us to understand his response a little better. How many teenagers, when their parents ask them to do something respond with, “aw, do I have to?”
You might be saying to yourself, “God was speaking to Jeremiah here, so what does that have to do with me or anyone else for that matter?” The point is, believe it or not, God does know you and God knows me. We are known. A recurring theme in the Bible is that God made us and knows us even better than we know ourselves. God reveals here that God Knows Jeremiah intimately.
King David in explaining about how God knew him put it this way in Psalm 139:1-6: “1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.”
Then a little further into the Psalm David uses these words to describe how well God knows him, “13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed” (Ps 139:14-16).
David is saying, “God knows me and God knows you.”
God calls Jeremiah to be his prophet to Israel. A person doesn’t just decide one day that they’re going to be a prophet. You had to have a calling from God. You have to be appointed!. And in the midst of Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet he discovered that God knew who he was and still wanted him to serve.
That should be good news for us as well. If God knew Jeremiah and could use him, If God knew David and could use him; then guess what? We can be useful to God. God knows us and wants to use us in his service too. That’s good news! Before you were ever born, God knew you! Not even your parents can say that. Before we were born God knew us!
God knew Jeremiah and still God appointed him to take a message of judgment to the people of Israel. Not exactly what you’d call a real fun message to preach. But God lets Jeremiah understand that He will be with him.
God told Jeremiah He had set him apart. God had a specific purpose for him even before he was ever born. Each of us was created for a specific reason.
Each of us was created on purpose for a purpose. God doesn’t make mistakes. If there is any mistake it is on our part by not following God’s purpose and plan for us. People need to realize that God has a purpose and plan for their life.
Jer. 29: 11-“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”
Sadly, too many people don’t realize God has a plan for them and thus they fill up their lives with everything but God and then they are still left feeling empty.
God appointed (set apart) Jeremiah to his task just as I have no doubt God has called me to preach the Word. What task has God called you to? Each believer in Christ is appointed “set apart” for the specific purpose of revealing Christ to the world but while God has a plan for all of us to be His followers, not everyone follows His plan.
The choice is up to you. You either follow or you don’t. Will you going to live your calling and trust that God will be with be with you? Or will you simply say: “No way Lord. I don’t know how to. I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. I’m too young or I’m too old?”
Don’t make excuses. God knows you and God called you. When we don’t follow the Lord’s plan we will be missing out on being productive in God’s kingdom. Maybe that is why so many people have such a void in their lives because they’re not doing what they were created and appointed to do.
It’s time for you to decide if you’re going to trust God and accept his appointment for you to serve Him and be filled. Make the choice to follow God’s appointment for your life.
