Dear Ones:
Our enemy is forever seeking to turn us in on ourselves, causing us to look within instead of away to Christ. Hence, we relate our “resources” to the issues at hand, instead of appropriating the living Christ for our needs. This is what is called “unbelief,” and the Lord is pleased only when we walk by faith. (Heb. 11:6)
When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet of God, and the weight and responsibility of that calling was revealed to him, he immediately went to the mirror and looked at himself, and his resources. The result, “…Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.'” (Jer. 1:5) It was then that the Lord corrected him, and it appears as though He did so immediately: “Say not I am a child (in other words, turn away from looking at your “resources”): for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” (v.6-7) What was the Lord doing? He was redirecting Jeremiah’s attention away from himself, to be fixed on God, and His resources. If you look further in the passage, the Lord reassures Jeremiah by “touching his mouth,” and declaring to him, “Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth.” (v.9)
Jeremiah was certainly a most sensitive individual, very circumspect, and analytical in his assessment of things as they truly were. Like Moses, who had a similar response to his calling, he was hesitant before such a great responsibility, and opposition. It is then that the word of the Lord brings Jeremiah to the point of obedience in a very clear manner: “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: BE NOT DISMAYED AT THEIR FACES, LEST I CONFOUND THEE BEFORE THEM.” (V.17) These are solemn words given by the Lord to steady Jeremiah. But with the charge given him comes the promise: “For, behold, I have made thee THIS DAY a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land…they(the kings of the land) shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.” (1:17-19) With the command always comes the promise of His presence, enablement, sufficiency.
So, today, let us take our stand…a stand to believe God who said, “Faithful is He who calls you, who also WILL do it, ” and this, in and through us. And may we not be dismayed by what we see around us, and certainly not within, because we have SET the Lord before us. Hence, we shall not be moved.
Love, Dad