Living Lent – Day 5

Jeremiah 1: 1, 4-10

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.

Today we are asked to consider the opening words of the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah recalls for us an encounter with God where he is called to be a prophet. Not only does God delcare that Jeremiah should speak for him, but God explicitly set him aside for this purpose before he was born.

In some ways it’s a difficult passage to apply directly to ourselves. These are the words of Jeremiah, about Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s calling. So what have they to do with me?

Perhaps more than we at first realise.

You see, Jeremiah doesn’t hear God’s call, leap up and immediately run to speak truth to the people. He pauses. He challenges. “I can’t, I’m too young and don’t know how to speak”. Who amongst us hasn’t had such doubts or placed such obstacles in our way? Who amongst us has not felt or heard the will of God and said, “But, I can’t…”?

I know I have.

But God doesn’t accept this from Jeremiah and he won’t accept it from us. God says, “Don’t you worry about what you’ll say or how old you are, I have called you and I will equip you”. We can take great encouragement from this. If we are called, we will be provided the tools we need for the task just as Jeremiah was.

God doesn’t call us on a whim, he calls us as part of a plan he sees before you were you. He will not call you and abandon you. He will call you and empower you. Just like Jeremiah.

Ponder… Do today’s prophets appear on the streets or write books? How do you recognise the prophets in today’s Church?

Pray… FOR OUR COMMUNITY Pray for the families who bring their children to Shirley Pre School. Pray that they might find a warm welcome in our building, and that they quickly feel part of the community. FOR THE WORLD Pray for support for parents worldwide at times in life where new phases are begun, especially for the times when you have to ‘let go’ of a child, and let others teach and influence them.

Act… Create something today, like a cake, a picture, a poem or a story.