A Voice Calling

April 23, 2020 Daily thought and prayer

Jeremiah 1: 4 – 9
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.

It seems that no one was ever ready just to leap up and do the Lord’s bidding. Moses complained he could not do public speaking; Isaiah was of unclean lips just to mention two. Here we find Jeremiah also finding very good reason why he could not be the Lord’s mouthpiece. Despite the fact that Jeremiah had spoken at least twice and several years apart with God as he grew up when the call comes he claims to be too young and doesn’t know how to speak.
When I was asked to be an Elder many years ago my reply to the initial approach was “Can I think about it and get back to you?” Years later the Minister told me that was the answer he always wanted to hear; if someone spoke up straight away along the lines of “Oh yes” he was always unsure if they understood what the role of Elder truly was. He preferred people who took time to think about it first.
God had picked out Jeremiah before he was born so Jeremiah’s objections had already been taken care of.
We may never think we are worthy of God’s calling to us but as Moses, Isaiah, Jonah and even Jeremiah discovered, God never asks us to do what we cannot do and he always prepares us for his work.