September 20 – Jeremiah

September 20 – Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:1-9

This passage has gained notoriety in the last several decades as part of the abortion / life debate, but there is more depth to it than a simple understanding of God’s acknowledgement of human life prior to birth.

Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet and with good reason. He was going to carry some pretty harsh words to the people of Israel.  God was handing them over to the Babylonians as punishment. Their sin had finally separated them from God and He could no longer overlook what they were doing. There was a time when Israel loved the Lord, but in 2:13, we find that there were two sins committed against the Lord.  First, they had forsaken Him, the source of living water.  Secondly, they dug their own wells, deciding they could get water on their own; but those wells were already broken and couldn’t hold water.  The Lord told Israel they couldn’t do it on their own and they went ahead and tried to do so anyway.

The Lord knew this message was going to be difficult for Jeremiah to deliver, so He spent time with Jeremiah before sending him out into the world, offering assurance that it really was He who asked this of the man.  He wanted Jeremiah to know He had been preparing Him as a prophet long before Jeremiah was born.  The Lord’s plan was immense and Jeremiah had always been part of that plan.

Jeremiah worried that he wasn’t a good speaker, but the Lord told him that from that point forward, fear wasn’t to enter his mind. If the Lord had prepared the world for him and had prepared Jeremiah for the task, he was ready for the task at hand.  Because of this, the Lord would always be there to rescue him (Jeremiah 1:8).

The message of these verses is much greater than simply acknowledging that God knows us before we are born.  Not only did he tell Jeremiah that he knew him, but he also told him there was a plan in place and Jeremiah was a part of it.  Then, not only did God assure Jeremiah of the plan and his role, but he told Jeremiah to move forward without fear.  Finally, in Jeremiah 1:9, God touched Jeremiah’s mouth and told him that He was putting His words in that mouth.  Not only did God tell Jeremiah to move forward without fear, but he gave him the tools with which to act.

This message is one of life; life lived from beginning to end in a relationship with God. It’s not just about when life begins, but how life is lived when walking with God.