Calling…

Do you hear that? Has God called you to do something, maybe outside of your comfort zone? Perhaps you don’t feel qualified to do what He has asked you to. You’re not alone, the prophet Jeremiah felt the same.

What do we know about Jeremiah?

He was from the tribe of Benjamin which was located between the two most powerful tribes, Ephraim to the north and Judah to the south. Jerusalem was originally a part of the land allotted to Benjamin but was quickly taken over by Judah. His dad was a priest, which means he was from the tribe of Levi living in the city of Anathoth, three miles northeast of Jerusalem and a city that was set aside for the priest for the tribe of Benjamin. Jeremiah was well versed in what the Scriptures said. He most likely was being trained to take over for his dad as priest one day. He was a teenager when he was called.

What was God’s calling on Jeremiah?

First, we see God knew Jeremiah before he was born. How can that be? I think the best explanation of this is comparing it to like the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day. If you go there and sit on the street you see only the part of the parade that is in front of you. While the blimp high in the sky can see the beginning and end because it is so far away. We live our lives not one day at a time but one second at a time, seeing only what is happening in the here and now. God, on the other hand, is like the blimp and sees our lives all at one time.

Next, God sanctified, set apart, Jeremiah to be His tool. We too have been sanctified liked Jeremiah by the blood of Jesus, Hebrews 10:10 EZV;

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Lastly, in Jeremiah 1:5, that Jeremiah was ordained to be a prophet. We to have been asked to do certain positions within the church,  Ephesians 4:7-16, we see the gifts He has given to us is for the edification and building up of the body of Christ. We don’t all get the same gift, He gave each of us a different gift in order that we will bring unity to the body of Christ. Yet, many of us have let the gifts bring division, not unity as God planned.

 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

If you have heard the call of God to do something that you are uncomfortable you are in good company with Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.

(Photo by Antoine Barres at Unsplash.)