Jeremiah 1:4-9: God Reminds Jeremiah that He alone Made Us

Jeremiah 1:4-9: God Reminds Jeremiah that He alone Made Us

NOTE: I know I recently shared a link to this full post, "Profile of a Doubter, Part 6: Moses & Jeremiah," but since I am in the book of Exodus, I wanted to share the first part of this writing in case you did not see it.  The link to the full writing is: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2024/03/profile-of-doubter-part-6-moses-jeremiah.html

Now here is where I want to parallel Moses to one my favorite Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah.  When he is called by God, He has the same insecurities Moses had.

(Jeremah 1:4-9) Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Then said I, "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child." But the Lord said unto me, "Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord." Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth." 

You can see here that Jeremiah also had a moment of doubt in his own calling.  He felt he was too young and probably also did not feel the older men would respect what he had to say.  But just as with Moses, God reminds Jeremiah that He alone made us, and if He chooses us for a specific task, He will make it possible for us to serve Him.

Whether we think we are too shy, poor speakers, too old, too young, not healthy enough, not smart enough, or whatever excuses we may use, God does not want our doubts but our faith.  He wants us to trust His will and His plans to serve Him.  God is gracious and understands our doubts, and if needed He will send us a helper as he sent Aaron.  More importantly, He will send His Holy Spirit to enable us and help us serve according to His perfect will.  To glorify His name, and not our own.  

May we quit making excuses why we cannot serve and instead start saying, as my other favorite Old Testament prophet says in Isaiah 6:8, "Here am I; send me." 

It is important to be humble and not puffed up with pride as God prefers to use a "broken and contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17) to serve Him.  In fact, it is those of us who say, "Why me, Lord?" in humility and understand the nature of serving others other than self-service, that God is more likely to call.  He wants ones willing to change, not ones who think he or she is already perfect.