Scripture Daily

Context No. 3722 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 1:6-10: in context

6Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” 7But the LORD said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. 8Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says the LORD. 9Then the LORD stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Then the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Called to be a prophet, Jeremiah shrinks back with a very human excuse: ah, Lord GOD, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth. But God does not accept the excuse. Do not say, I am only a youth, he replies, for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of them, God says, for I am with you to deliver you. And then the LORD touches Jeremiah's mouth and says, behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Two things stand out. God's call is not based on our sense of our own adequacy; Jeremiah felt too young and unable, but God's answer was I am with you, and I will give you the words. And God equips those he calls; he touches Jeremiah's mouth, supplying what the young man lacked. When God calls us to something beyond our ability, our sense of inadequacy is not a barrier, for he goes with us and equips us for it. The answer to I am only a child is God's own I am with you.

When I feel inadequate for what God calls me to, do I hear his "do not say that, I am with you," trusting him to go with me and equip me for what he asks?

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