Title: Jeremiah's Calling
Theme: Stepping into God's call.
Text: Jeremiah 1:1 -
Have many of you have ever went swimming in a lake and found yourself walking in the mud? You could feel the mud slide between your toes. The father you walked the deeper you became entrenched. When I was young, we used to go to the Blue Hole. This was a clay pit a few blocks behind our church, on the bottom was pure mud. This is where Jeremiah finds himself in Jeremiah 38.
Thrown into a cistern, a place where water was stored after the rain, it muddy and dark. This was his punishment. What did Jeremiah do? He followed God’s will. God spoke to Jeremiah and told him what to say and without hesitation, Jeremiah did it.
This was not the only time that Jeremiah was persecuted for telling the truth. Jeremiah lived a life of persecution. Alyssa Roat reminds us, “Jeremiah’s family turned against him and even plotted to kill him (Jeremiah 1:8, 11:21-23, 12:6). Over the years, he was whipped and put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:1-3), attacked by a mob (Jeremiah 26:1-9), threatened by the king (Jeremiah 36:26), and ridiculed (Jeremiah 28).” 1
All for preaching the word of God. The question has to be asked, what kept Jeremiah going? What was it that made him hold on to fulfilling God’s purpose? I tell you today it was more than a duty, it was a call.
You see I believe throughout Jeremiah’s forty years of prophesying and persecution he would look back on that day that God called a fifteen-year-old boy into the ministry.
Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 1, we will begin reading with verse 4. This passage alone
shows us Jeremiah’s call into ministry. Let us examine this closely as we see hope in the call of God. Look at verse four “the word of the Lord came to me”. The call of God begins with a word from God. This maybe an audible call, as it would seem here or a call of consensus of elders as we see in Acts 13:1. Whatever way God speaks to us it is an obvious call into ministry.
Looking at verse five God reminds Jeremiah that this call was “before you were born”. David tells us in Psalms 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.”.2 God knows us, and He calls us.
Notice also that God tells Jeremiah, “I sanctified you”. Sanctified comes from the Hebrew word qadash pronounced kaw-dash'. It means to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, or to be separate. God tells Jeremiah not only did I “set you apart” but I also “prepared” you for the ministry.
Look with me at what this calling is about. God tells Jeremiah “I ordained you”. The word ordained is from the Hebrew word nathan pronounced naw-than'. It means to be assigned, consecrated, commissioned and appointed. God had a task for Jeremiah to fulfill. The task ahead would be to speak the words of God.
God sets Jeremiah apart for an assigned duty. This duty would take him on a journey for the next forty
years. What was Jeremiah’s reaction? Look at verse 6 Then said I: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth." There were two objections on Jeremiah’s part that we will explore deeper.
First, Jeremiah says, “I cannot speak”. This is an interesting statement, especially considering that he could look back on the patriarch Moses and remember the same objection. Exodus 4 tells us of the call of Moses. Throughout the chapters three and four God performs miracles and promises of walking with Moses. Reading verse 10 we see Moses had the same objection as Jeremiah, “Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
This happened to me when I preached my first sermon. I remember standing behind the pulpit attempting to deliver a message that I had found on the back of a Sunday School lesson. I remember the lesson after 30 years it was based off GROW, a growing Christian. I stood in the pulpit, knees shaking and stuttering. Thinking I cannot speak. Praying deep within myself I said, “Lord, if you will get me through this I will never preach again.” Then it happened, a little elderly lady responded to the altar call, stretched out her hand and said these words, “Preacher, will you pray for me.” That sealed my calling.
Secondly Jeremiah said, “I am a youth”. Jeremiah was believed to be between 13 and 16 years of age. This is young. We get the impression that Timothy wrestled with the same insecurity from 1 Timothy 4:12. Paul reminds him in 2 Timothy 1:6, as we must often remind ourselves to “stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (7) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
God confirms the call to Jeremiah in the next two verses: 7 "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall
go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their
faces, For I am with you to deliver you," says the Lord.” God challenges Jeremiah, Do not say, ‘I am a
youth,’ Why? Because God had sanctified (set apart) and ordained (commissioned) Jeremiah. When God sets you apart and ordains you then your age does not matter. It is God’s anointing that will sustain you. Just as He spoke to Moses, God assures Jeremiah, “whatever I command you, you shall speak”. I shall be your mouthpiece, Jeremiah you are speaking for me.
Finally, God gives Jeremiah the most important assurance, “I am with you”. This is so encouraging. Moses again understood the importance of God going with him. Exodus 33 gives us insight into a conversation between God and Moses. Exodus 33:14 reads, “And He (being God) said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then he (being Moses) said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” (words in parentheses not in original text)
The presence of God is what sustains us. The presence of God will keep us going. The presence of God will help us to hold on.
I believe it was this promise of God that sustained Jeremiah as he was sinking into the muddy cistern. Jeremiah knowing that God was with him no matter how dark it seemed. That is was what kept him going.
This is what keeps me going. The assurance from God that He will be with me. Let me ask you, what is holding you back? Has God called you to a task that is bigger than you? Could it be that you are afraid that you cannot speak, or you are too young?
God is calling you into deeper purpose in your life. This could be a pulpit or teaching ministry. This could be a ministry to the community. This could be a call to witness to family and friends. I do not know, but what I do know is that God will guide you and give you hope. It is time to step into the call of God.
Footnotes
1 “Who Was Jeremiah - the "Weeping Prophet"?” Alyssa Roat, Biblestudytools.com, 2020 Accessed 10 October 2021www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/who-was-jeremiah-the-weeping-prophet.htm
2 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982)
3 Francis Brown, Samuel Driver, Charles Briggs A Hebrew and English of Old Testament from esword, Tyndale House Publishers, 1994), strongs h6942
4 Brown, Driver, Briggs A Hebrew and English of Testament from esword, strongs h5414
