“O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for 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 will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!” Jeremiah 1:6-9
Though at first Jeremiah hesitated when God called him, he surrendered to the Lord and became one of history’s most decisive spiritual leaders. Tragically, however, the people who most needed his leadership rejected him and turned their backs on God’s Word. As never before, our homes, churches, cities, and nations need decisive leaders who will obey the Word of God.
“I’m a young, inexperienced fellow. I am not capable of doing such a job. I am not prepared for this.” Have you ever noticed that the man whom God uses is the man who doesn’t think he can do it? If you think you can do it today, then I say to you that I don’t think God can use you. God always uses that kind of a man. God chooses the weak things of this world. Jeremiah felt inadequate, unfit, unequipped. I have always felt like Jeremiah, I cannot do what God has called me to do. God planned it that way so that He gets the glory not us.
Jeremiah should not use inexperience as an excuse for evading his task. He would have no choice in the selection of his audience or his message. Rather, he was to go to everyone to whom God sent him and say whatever God commanded. Jeremiah did not have to be an eloquent elder statesman–he was simply to be a faithful messenger, just as we should be. The Lord showed Jeremiah that He would give him the words to speak.
Jeremiah had to go where God sent him and speak what God told him to speak. He also had to believe God’s promise and prove it by not fearing the people. We call Jeremiah “the weeping prophet,” and he was, but he was also a courageous man who faced many dangers and trials and remained true to the Lord. He knew that the Lord was with him, just as we should know that also.