Preached FCCW, February 3, 2019
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In 1907, Robert Baden-Powell devised the Scout motto: Be Prepared.
When someone asked him, “Be prepared for what?” his answer was, “Why, for any old thing.”
Of course, no matter how laser focused you are on being prepared for “any old thing,” there are some things that you just can’t be prepared for.
Just ask Jeremiah.
One day, God spoke to Jeremiah about some big plans that God had for him. God picked him to be a prophet. Someone to speak up and speak out about the ways his nation of Judah was not being the kind of nation God wanted them to be.
Jeremiah was not prepared to fulfill the duty God had in mind for him.
He was certain that he was too young, too immature and lacked the courage required to handle the responsibilities that came with being a prophet.
But for all that Jeremiah lacked confidence in himself, God’s confidence in him was undeterred.
God reassured him, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.
Do not be afraid, for I am with you to deliver you.”
Then God touched his mouth and said, “Now I have put MY words in your mouth.”
Truth is, all throughout the Bible, God habitually calls the unprepared; the too young, the too old, the least experienced and most underequipped to perform some of the most important and holiest of duties.
When God looked for a couple to start a family that would become a new nation, God turned to Abraham and Sarah, even though they were too old to have children.
When God needed someone to stand up to the Egyptian Pharaoh and demand that the Hebrew slaves be granted their freedom, God called on Moses to be their spokesman, even though Moses, like Jeremiah, lacked confidence in himself to accomplish the mission.
When the demoralized Israelite army needed a hero to defeat the Philistine giant named Goliath, God enlisted a young shepherd boy named David, who had absolutely no training in hand to hand combat.
When God looked for a candidate to become the mother of God’s only begotten Son, it turned out to be an adolescent girl who had never even been out on a date before.
Be prepared is a good motto to live by. But we can’t think of everything.
We might not be able to imagine every possibility life holds in store.
The day may come when God calls on you to do something you are totally un- prepared for.
That’s when you need the faith that God knows you better than you know yourself.
That God is always prepared to see you through that for which you think yourself as unprepared as Jeremiah did.
And that, as Jeremiah learned, maybe God has been preparing you for this thing all your life without your even knowing it.
Copyright 2019 Raymond Medeiros