SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2014
10:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah was
Doubtful PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
1:4-5
Message of the
verses: We have been looking in
these last few SD’s about why it was that Jeremiah was hesitant about becoming
a prophet of God, and we will continue that all through the first chapter of
Jeremiah.
When Jeremiah looked around at the world he was living
in, the wickedness that prevailed in Judah at that time he was pretty sure he
did not want this job of being a prophet.
Jeremiah knew, like all people who serve the Lord that he was not
adequate. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 2:16 “who
is adequate for these things?” God
chooses the one to work for him as being faithful. Paul again writes “26 For consider your calling, brethren, that
there were not many
wise according to the flesh, not
many mighty, not
many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to
shame the things which are strong, 28
and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the
things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29
so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are
in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and
sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET
HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.’” (1
Cor. 1:26-31) Jeremiah would have
understood these verses very well.
God does not make any mistakes, and therefore when He
chooses someone to do His work He will give us the strength to accomplish what
He calls us to do.
God’s electing grace (vv. 4-5 of Jeremiah chapter one): “4 ¶ Now the word of the LORD came to me
saying, 5 “Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet
to the nations.’” “4 Now the word
of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto
the nations.” (KJV)
Dr. Wiersbe writes these very important words: “One of my seminary professors used to say, ‘Try
to explain divine election and you my lose your mind, but explain it away, and
you will lose your soul.’ God doesn’t
save us, call us or use us in His service because we’re deserving, but because
in His wisdom and grace He chooses to do so.
It’s grace from start to finish. “But
by the grace of God I am what I am,’ wrote Paul, ‘and His grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly that they all;
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me’ (1 Cor. 15:10). In explaining the sovereignty of God a friend
of mine said the following “The Holy Spirit
is like the god-father, he give you an offer you cannot refuse.”
The first phrase on verse five we see that God says I
knew you. This refers to His sovereign
election of Jeremiah. The next phrase says that God formed Him and we can learn
more about this from Psalm 139:13-16: “13 For You formed my inward parts; You
wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was
made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as
yet there was not one of them.” David
had written what God was saying to Jeremiah, and that is that I formed you
exactly the way I wanted you to be.
Warren Wiersbe writes “What we are is God’s gift to us; what we do with
it is our gift to Him.”
Next we see that God sanctified Jeremiah, which means
that Jeremiah was set aside for the work of the Lord, and this was done
probably in eternity past. We see in the
letter to the Galatians that this was also done for Paul. Next we see the Lord ordained Jeremiah to be
His prophet to the nations. It is God’s
concern from the beginning that all the nations of the earth know of His
salvation. We see this in God’s
conversation to Abraham “1 ¶ Now the
LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives
And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I
will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”
A prophet did more that tell the future, for his words
were for those in his generation along with future generations as seen in the
books of the Bible that are named by the prophet who wrote them.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this sub-section with these
words: “As God’s children, we are chosen
and set apart by Him and for Him (Romans 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-14). This truth ought to give us great courage as
we confront an evil world and seek to serve the Lord. ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ (Romans 8:31).”
Spiritual meaning for
my life today: Jeremiah’s message
was certainly for the nation of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, but it is for our
nation too. We can see the same things
in our nation that were going on in Judah at Jeremiah’s time, and so we can
learn from his words as we study this book.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be ready to share the hope that is in me to
those whom God brings onto my path.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Yes” (Genesis 32:7).
Today’s Bible
Question: “What Did Paul desire to
present the Christian Believers to Christ?”
Answer in our next SD.
1/18/2014 11:34 AM
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