Jeremiah 1:5-8 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. The Book of Jeremiah is the story of a Prophet called by God to the kingdom of Judah. Judah was the Southern part of the Nation of Israel when they split into two separate kingdoms. Now for those kingdoms to split was never part of Gods plan, but after Solomons sons came into power they split the kingdom for their own personal gain. Israel as a Nation had already turned their backs on God and had faced the consequences by being enslaved and Judah wasnt far behind. That is where Jeremiah came in, he was sent to warn the people of Judah to turn back to God before His judgment came upon them as well. In this devotion we will deal with two issues; 1) How do we know that we can trust Gods plan for our life, 2) If God has great plans for us then how come some people are called into difficult situations. The first answer is found in what God says to Jeremiah. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. The wording that God used here to speak to Jeremiah is very interesting. He tells Jeremiah that before he was ever created that He (God) had a plan for his life. That is the same for us. God has already created a plan for your life before you were ever born. The word that God used for knew in verse 5 is the word yada in the Hebrew. This word means not only that God knew Jeremiah but that God knew Jeremiah intimately and completely. God knew the entire span of the life of Jeremiah, he knew all the trials that he would go through, all the times that he would be made fun of for his faith and ultimately the outcome of the life of Jeremiah. God knows each one of us in the same manner. He knows the moment of your birth, death and everything in between. Why not trust God when He knows all of this? Jeremiah had a specific task in the kingdom of God. It was to warn the people of the coming judgment of God. What would have happened if Jeremiah never followed Gods plan for his life? What if Billy Graham never stepped out to preach? What if all the men and women that have gave their lives for the freedom of this country had never chosen to take those steps? The answer is, we will never know. Because they were faithful in their actions. God has called each one of you to a specific task within the Kingdom of God. The choice that you have to make is whither you will step up and be what God needs you to be? If not then what will happen to America? This Nation and the Church depends on what the youth of today chose to do with their lives. Be the young people that step out and say, I will be what God has planned for me to be. The second question is if God knows our plan then how come some people are called into difficult situations. The answer can be found in the life of Jeremiah as well. Now Jeremiah didnt fail in his task to God, but the Nation of Judah did. They kept turning away from God and broke the commands that God had given them as a Nation. In the life of Jeremiah he would see the people that he ministered to captured and led away from their homes as slaves. We live in a time much like Jeremiahs time. God has called us to live a certain way and it seems like most people no longer care about Gods laws. They are making up their own rules for what is right and what is wrong. I looked into a study and here is what it showed, In two millennia of Christian history, about 70 million faithful have given their lives for the faith, and of these, 45.5 million -- fully 65% -- were in the last century, according to The New Persecuted. That is saying that in the last 100 years 45.5 million Christians have been killed for their faith. That is shocking! The question that I want to ask you is, would you be willing to die for your faith? Is your faith important enough or strong enough that you would give your life to see people come to know Christ? The situation around us doesnt matter. We may all face harsh times as Christians. What does matter is how you respond during those times. Sometimes our faith will get us into trouble with the world, but Jesus told us to no fear the world, but to trust Him because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). I want to leave you with this quote, Being in the center of Gods will is not always the safest place to be, but it is always the right place to be.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 03:11:58 +0000
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