Week 23 Jeremiah
Jeremiah begins his book with the account of how the Lord gave him his assignment as a prophet. There were two things I noticed.
The first was that there was a Pre-Life Element to Jeremiah’s story that he wasn’t likely aware of. Something earlier was going on. The Lord told him: I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world. So…that’s pretty interesting since my guess is that most modern people don’t much buy into the idea of pre-conception goings-on (unless they belong to, say maybe an eastern religion that does believe there are pre-conception goings-on). But the Lord tells Jeremiah that his Material-World Day One was not the point when things got rolling. They were rolling quite a bit before his birth day.
The other thing is that the Lord told Jeremiah: you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and take care of you. Since I was reading 2 Chronicles a couple of weeks ago I remember what happened to Jeremiah. He didn’t exactly have a fun-filled & carefree life with no opposition antagonism ill-treatment disrespect and like that. So when I see the Lord saying this thing about I-will- be-with-you-and-take-care-of-you I won’t be translating that as meaning a week in Hawaii.
Note: quotes from Jeremiah 1:5 & 7-8 (NLT)