Year 6, Day 54: Jeremiah 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Authority

• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

Jeremiah 1 is a great chapter.  In this chapter we hear the beginning of Jeremiah’s calling.  We hear how God calls Jeremiah.  We hear how God tells Jeremiah what he is going to be to the Hebrew people around Him.  God tells Jeremiah that he will build up, tear down, destroy, overthrown, and plant.  God has big designs for Jeremiah.

Of course, we also hear God tell Jeremiah to shut up.  When God comes to Jeremiah and tells him the plan, Jeremiah gets a bit nervous.  I can’t really say that I blame him.  Jeremiah is young.  He’s living in a time that is anticipating Babylonian conquest.  What’s not there to be nervous about?

But what I really love about this chapter is that God focuses Jeremiah away from his doubts and onto the power of God.  After all, it is God who will empower Jeremiah.  It is God who will enable Jeremiah to do what he will do.  If Jeremiah is looking to his future and looking at his own ability, he has every reason to be nervous.  But when Jeremiah remembers that God is king of the universe and Jeremiah’s authority to do these things comes from the king of the universe, suddenly he has nothing to worry about.

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