Jeremiah's call

It's funny how these God-incidences can happen sometimes... maybe God has some purpose in me doing Jeremiah at present. In my evening devotions, I tend to read the passage myself, seeking to do the text exegesis and application, before reading the appropriate chapter of The Bible Speaks Today series. My morning devotions are guided by Explore, the Bible reading notes from The Good Book Company.

So about a week ago, I finished my previous studies in James using BST, so decided to go to the Old Testament. Why not study Jeremiah? One of the major prophets, been a while since I've read him, why not? So I started it in the evenings...

Only to discover a few days later that Explore is also going through Jeremiah, although at a slightly slower pace. Is God trying to say something to me through Jeremiah???

As I've written about before, Jeremiah 1:5 is a great verse - it was my text for the Downes Oratory Prize last year - which made me slightly better off, financially!

5"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Here we find the call of Jeremiah - but the hero of the episode is God! It is God who knew him before he formed him in the womb => even before he was a twinkle in his father's eye, God already knew him.

God knowing us might seem scary - if he even knows the secret, shameful things we do - but he knows us and loves us. Nothing that we can do can make him stop loving us.

God's foreknowledge of Jeremiah also led him to consecrate him. Jeremiah was set apart from before birth. He was appointed to the Lord's service. There was nothing else he could do. God had called and chosen him.

So does God only know Jeremiah? Or does he not also know you? What has God called and appointed you to do? You may not be the prophet to the nations, but you are still called to the Lord's service, to make his name known.