2024 Devotions Week 31

THE WORD OF THE LORD
Jeremiah 1

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

In today’s world, the individual is king and the right and power of the individual is well-protected. Of course we still have to care about society’s rules and laws and cultural norms and structures but in the main we all know and are well-taught that we have the right to choose, the right to care or not, the right to be involved or walk away, the right to do or not do.

Having been brought up thus, the Word of the Lord appears to us as one of many wanting our approval and acquiescence. Where we are concerned, we hold the right to choose.

When God tells Jeremiah that he has been destined to be a prophet, formed and set apart in God’s mind even before his physical existence, no such right is entertained. Indeed, when we think of it, none of us has the choice of our existence nor those who brought us into existence. We exist because of the choice of someone else and we develop in ways where we have little choice. When we were mere babies and infants we had no power nor intellect to choose or refuse.

Thus the supreme imperative of the word of the Lord is not something that is alien and contrary to our life and existence. Yet we would choose to push the word of the Lord to the sidelines of our life.

God brushes aside Jeremiah’s feeble excuse and authoritatively tells him there is no problem that is worth contemplating because “I am with you and will rescue you”. Much more, he tells Jeremiah that he needs to fear God much more than he fears any other terror that he might encounter in obeying his word. God did not brook any nonsense from Jeremiah with respect to his word; neither will he brook any nonsense from us.

We need to hear the strong, commanding voice of God in Scripture rather than the hesitant and weak voices we often hear from the pulpit that pander to our whims and fancies, seeking our support and cooperation.

“Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

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