Today's Bible Verse is Jeremiah 1:4-11.
This is known as Jeremiah’s call story. Every prophet in the Bible gets a call story they get a moment where God tells them that they're going to be a prophet. They're no longer just who they were they are now a prophet and it happens at different points in their lives. It happens to every prophet. There's a moment where God says: “You're doing this. This is your job now.”
Every call story has four parts. There's the commissioning, God saying, “I’m making you a prophet.” Then there's the objections, the prophet always says I can't do this. I don't know how to do it. I’m not smart enough, I’m not eloquent enough, I don't speak the right words, I’m not pretty enough. Whatever it is there's always some form of objection. Then God says, “Don't worry, you don't have to be any of those things because I’m going to be with you.”, then there's some form of a sign. In this case it's God’s angel reaching down with a coal, touching Jeremiah’s lips and blessing them.
It makes me think that God calls us all the time, every one of us is called by God to do something. it's obvious when you're called into ministry like me. that's caught your attention, that's your calling, God is calling you to do.
If you're calling is your job. The call comes in the midst of doing something else to be a clerk at a grocery store, to fold mail, to whatever it is that seems to be less obvious, you don't feel so called in those positions. yet God calls each one of us to some form of ministry.
We have all these objections all the time. We can’t do it. There are these rules that we can't we
have to follow you. We can't talk about God at work, or I’ll get fired or whatever it is. I wonder if we put more trust into
our objections than we do into God’s calling of us.
see God doesn't call us without equipping us. God doesn't call us without reassuring us that God will be with us in the midst of that calling. God does not ask of you anything that God is not going to equip you to do.
Now you're not going to be able to do it on your own. God’s not saying go out there and do it on your own. God’s going to go with you. If God goes with you then you can do anything. so maybe you aren't smart enough on your own. maybe you aren't wise enough on your own. maybe you aren't caring enough on your own.
If God calls you then you can do it because God is going to be there with you in the midst of it. God’s going to hold your hand and it's going to be okay.
so how do we live into our identity as one who was called by God to mission and ministry.