By Jake Thurston
Have you ever been assigned a task that you felt completely unqualified to accomplish?
Maybe it was a final school project that took up 40% of your final grade, and you had no idea how to pull it off. Maybe you felt like all the odds were stacked against you when trying out for the basketball team. “Could I really do this?” You ask yourself. “Do I actually think I’m good enough to contribute to the team?” Or maybe you felt completely inadequate to move forward with something God was asking you to do that obliterated your comfort zone—almost as if you were setup to fail from the very start.
That’s how the prophet Jeremiah felt when he received his call to ministry.
In this first installment of Calling Profiles, we’re going to take a deep dive into Jeremiah’s calling, and discuss some key lessons you can takeaway that might apply to your own call to ministry.
We begin in Jeremiah 1:4-5:
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
So one day, Jeremiah was out minding his own business, when the “word of the Lord” came to him. And the declaration God speaks over Jeremiah is one of profound intimacy. God knew Jeremiah before he was even conceived in his mother’s womb. Before the dawn of time, God knew Jeremiah and he loved Jeremiah deeply. God had a relationship with Jeremiah well before Jeremiah even had the ability to think thoughts. That’s crazy to think tabout.
But not only did God know Jeremiah before he was born. God “set him apart” and appointed him “as a prophet to the nations.” What does this mean?
“Set apart” is another way of calling something “holy,” “consecrated,” or “other than.” Put simply, God formed Jeremiah with the distinct purpose of being completely different from those around him. He would be held to a higher standard. He would live a holy life. He would be in close relationship with God. And, he would serve as a prophet: A minister called to see the world as God sees the world, call out complacency in God’s people, and exhort them to turn from wicked ways to accept the new life God has for them.
All that said, the first thing we can learn about calling is this:
1. God knew what we were born to do before we were born.
Although everyone realizes their calls to ministry in different ways and at different points in their lives—sometimes earlier, sometimes later—the key point is that God knows what we were born to do before we were even born. He knows who we would become, what kind of life experiences we’d have, what time period we’d live in, and everything else that makes up who we are, and in his perfect timing, says, “This is what you’re meant to do.”
Whether you know exactly what your call to ministry is, or you’re still trying to figure all this out, remember this: God created you for a purpose. And he will reveal it to you in his perfect timing.
But what was Jeremiah’s response to God’s call on his life? We continue in verse 6:
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
Say what??
The sovereign Lord God almighty speaks directly to Jeremiah, telling him he has been appointed as a prophet to the nations, and Jeremiah says, “I can’t do it! I don’t know how to speak! I’m too young! No one will listen to me! Surely I can’t be the one to do this.” Jeremiah felt like he had been assigned a task that he was completely unqualified to accomplish.
This leads to the second lesson about calling from Jeremiah’s story:
2. Your age doesn’t disqualify you.
God is known for using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Scripture is filled with countless examples of how misfits and nobodies are the ones who God calls to preach his Word and advance his kingdom. While everyone is called to carry out God’s mission, there are times when he calls individuals to devote their lives as leaders of his movement. And for whatever reason, those he calls as ministry leaders very often feel unqualified for the task at hand.
Jeremiah, though, specifically believed his age made him unqualified to be a prophet. Scholars estimate Jeremiah to be around 20-years-old when he received his calling. He would have been afraid that, for one, he wasn’t well trained enough to be a good speaker, and two, people would look down on him because of his age.
Perhaps you’ve felt something similar: that you’re too young to actively make a difference in those around you, your family, or school. But hear me on this: Whether you’re in middle school, high school, or college, as long as you have an obedient and willing heart, God will use you to reach lost people and change the world around you. Your age does not disqualify you from God calling you to ministry right here, right now. How? Because….
3. God qualifies the called.
Check out what God says to Jeremiah in verses 7-10:
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
God tells Jeremiah not to bank on his lack of qualifications, urges him with the urgency of his mission, encourages him not to be afraid, and gives him the words to say. In other words, God qualified Jeremiah.
God gave him everything he needed to accomplish the task set before him. Despite his inadequacies, Jeremiah went on to become one of the most influential prophets in the history of God’s people. Not because of anything Jeremiah did, but entirely because of God working through his willing spirit.
If God can qualify Jeremiah, he can qualify you. God will provide for every “not enough” you have. That’s the point. God would much rather call someone to lead his Kingdom movements who depends on him in all things than someone who has it all together and tries to take matters into her own hands.
And with that, I want to leave you with this encouragement from the Apostle Paul that sums all this up so well:
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
