Day 277 - Before you were born, I knew you!

Today's Reading: Jer. 1-2 and Ps. 112-113

Today we start Jeremiah.... I love the passages in Jer. 1:5-9 which talk about how God knew Jeremiah before he was even formed in the womb. This reminds us that there are no accidental "Oooops" births among God's people. God has a purpose for our life long before our parents even know that we will be born!

I also love how Jeremiah says, "I can't speak... I am child...." I'm not a prophet like Jeremiah, but how I relate to those feelings he expressed. I feel that way all the time when asked to speak. I mean all the time. "Lord, why are you asking me to speak... I feel like a child... I understand and know so little. Can't you find someone else?"

Here's Jeremiah's conversation with the Lord:

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou lamest 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."

Oh that He would put His words in our mouth... but how often do we go forward, and walk and work with our own words. How often do we try to work in our own might and our own strength instead of humbly leaning upon the Lord.

Jeremiah's life was definitely filled with purpose and Ellen White talks about his life in ministry in the following paragraphs:

For forty years Jeremiah was to stand before the nation as a witness for truth and righteousness. In a time of unparalleled apostasy he was to exemplify in life and character the worship of the only true God. During the terrible sieges of Jerusalem he was to be the mouthpiece of Jehovah. He was to predict the downfall of the house of David and the destruction of the beautiful temple built by Solomon. And when imprisoned because of his fearless utterances, he was still to speak plainly against sin in high places. Despised, hated, rejected of men, he was finally to witness the literal fulfillment of his own prophecies of impending doom, and share in the sorrow and woe that should follow the destruction of the fated city. 

Yet amid the general ruin into which the nation was rapidly passing, Jeremiah was often permitted to look beyond the distressing scenes of the present to the glorious prospects of the future, when God’s people should be ransomed from the land of the enemy and planted again in Zion. He foresaw the time when the Lord would renew His covenant relationship with them. “Their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.” Jeremiah 31:12. (Prophets and Kings, p. 408)

There's a lot of depth in the book of Jeremiah, and I'm excited to read through this book of Jeremiah again.

Tomorrow's Reading: Jer. 1-2 and Ps. 112-113