08.08.12
Jeremiah 1.7-8 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. NASB
One day in the ancient days of Heaven God said, “I will bring forth a man and he will speak
to My people and he will tell them everything I am about to do.” And God
brought forth Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests of Anathoth, in the land
of Benjamin. And God said, “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.” God always has a plan and
God always has His man.
The books of the prophets are there to remind us of that
truth: God always has His plan and His
man. And so Jeremiah was sent not only as God’s prophet to the Jews in
Judah but also the Babylonians and the Egyptians. You see God doesn’t care
about our nationality or the color of our skin; He cares about us. He cares
about each and every one of us from the least to the greatest, from the most
kind to the most vile. God always has His man and His plan. What did the
Babylonians think about God? Dunno, but God thought about them.
God cares that we know Him and stay close to Him. God
cares that we think what He thinks and that we learn to love like He loves
despite the fact that many people don’t love Him. Knowing God intimately on
earth ought to give us a glimpse of what we’ll be up to in Heaven some day. Why
learn to love the unlovely on earth? Could there be some unlovables out there
in some universe that God is calling His people to go and rescue? It could
happen.
What are we doing on earth for God today? What is our
place of service in God’s Church in the nation in which we live? Has God
created and called us to serve somewhere and do something for Him? If Jeremiah
(and the rest of the prophets) is any indication, then our lives are of immense
importance to God as well. There is someone or some ones God has called us to
reach for Him. We’re to learn to love the unlovable for God.
As I think about this today, on the eve of yet another
birthday, I think about the course of my life and what it is I think God has
called me to do. I do serve in my church, but sometimes it is an empty-headed,
prayerless service in which I just go through the motions. The folks in Judea
were about to go into captivity and they needed God’s help. The folks around us
are in captivity to a lifestyle that won’t let them go and won’t allow time for
the Most Important Person in the Universe. Somebody has to say something!
Jeremiah was known by God and called by God to speak to God’s people, and I am
too – and so are you if you are God’s child, known by Him before you were
formed; before you were born. God has always known us.
Today, on the last day of my 56th year I will
pray and seek God for direction for my life as I enter my 57th year
tomorrow: God, Father, Lord Jesus, Holy
Spirit, what are You up to in my life and am I doing what You created me for?
And can we redeem all my wasted time and effort and put it to use in my 57th
year? This is my prayer as I receive an early birthday present of reading the
beginning of the Book of Jeremiah (truly one of my faves) and spend the last
day of this year thinking about the first day of next year; and all the while remembering
that I still have God’s work to do today… I am still His servant today – today,
still, is all I presently have.
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