S82P11 – The beauty of the call: Jeremiah

Jer. 1:9-11

Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.  See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see the branch of an almond tree.”

His toys were always different from the other kids’.  His grandfather was a wood worker, and Pop-pop would make him anything he wanted.  From cars to train sets to puppets, there was no shortage of ideas.  Toys, however, were not all that Pop-pop made.  The house was full of furniture crafted by his hands, and these pieces would leave quite a family legacy.  Pop-pop knew that this art might not survive him, and he asked the boy to take on the mantle after him.  The boy happily accepted the offer, which came with a tour of the workshop.  Pop-pop showed him his first table saw and ran a piece of wood through it to demonstrate.  Then, without wasting a moment, he took a second piece of wood, gave it to the boy and said, “your turn.”

Our God is in no rush.  He stands outside of time, and the hours of our lives rest in the palm of his hand.  However, that does not mean that there is no urgency to the call He places on a saint’s life.  We see with Jeremiah that the Lord wasted no time in beginning his training.  Jeremiah was to be a prophet, and this required discernment with vision.  He would be charged with not only receiving but also interpreting the pictures God was to give him to share with his people.  That was a skill to be learned through training, and God got started right away.   He does the same with us today.  Once it is time for us to be called, it becomes time for us to learn from him how we are to walk out that calling.

I look at my work for the Lord as somewhat of an apprenticeship.  He asks me to do a job, and He fully equips me to do that job, but He also takes the time to train me.  God could have given Jeremiah the instant ability to receive and interpret visions flawlessly.  Instead of doing that, He took Jeremiah through a time of training which would solidify his relationship with and trust in the Lord.  That relationship and trust would be necessary for Jeremiah to walk out his calling faithfully and with excellence, but it was never about the work without the relationship.  Father, thank You for taking the time not only to train us for our calling but to foster our relationship with You in the process.