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Why is one of the first words a three year old
begins to understand he can use to drive his parent crazy from the backseat of
the family van! It is asked no less than
82 gazillion times an hour!
That “why” word must’ve loomed large in the youthful mind of Jeremiah when
God called him to speak as Heaven’s messenger.
Like Timothy, Paul’s protégé’ in the New Testament, Jeremiah figured he
was just a youngster, why would all the people in power listen to a word he
spoke. God told Jeremiah to lose that
thinking and just trust him.
The Lord gave the fledgling prophet assurance because of three facts:
1. God’s Sovereignty
The Lord gave me this message: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5
God did what only a sovereign can do; he chose
Jeremiah. Sovereigns don’t answer,
especially to those they rule. Had Jeremiah not been the one for God’s plan, he
wouldn’t have heard from God in the first place.
In this particular case, even before Jeremiah’s mother gave birth to him,
God had appointed him to God’s service.
That may seem arbitrary, but we are talking about the same One who spoke
the universe into existence; it is the Creator’s right to have His way with the
creatures. Even if we don’t understand
or agree with that, there is a part of each of our insides that says we must
respect Him.
Remember Lot’s wife? She had gotten
so used to being a resident of Sodom she didn’t want anything else. When God decreed the destruction of that
wicked city it was time to leave; God brought the Lot family out as a matter of
kindness. Mrs. Lot didn’t agree, and
even though God had warned not even to look back, she just had to have one last
look. She didn’t respect God’s command
or His Sovereignty, and she was frozen in time as a pillar of salt, forever to
stare at the destroyed city.
It is not wrong to ask why, but when God says I’ll
tell you later – just do what I said, it isn’t time to quibble or
struggle. He is still sovereign over
all, and that is a comfort Jeremiah needed if he was going to serve the God
with no name.
A second fact that comforted the newly-ordained prophet that day was:
2. God’s Intimacy
Notice
all the personal pronouns that describe God’s relationship with Jeremiah:
“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
Five times in these 4 verses God refers to His personhood “I” and “my”. And he marries that with “you” and “your”
when referring to Jeremiah. We serve a
God who is sovereign, but not aloof. The
whole reason God created us is for relationship. We are hard-wired for fellowship with God and
each other.
The next time you begin to ask why remember the God
of the universe understands every heartbeat of your pulse, intent and purpose
of your thoughts and soul, and loves you more intensely than any parent could
even imagine. And on top of that, He is
engineering everything to bless you.
28And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:28-29
The ultimate answer to the question “why” is “love” – that word agape’
means doing the best for someone else…that someone is you! Sometimes the best may
not look like it at first…but with God it is always the best in the universe!
Marianne was a friend of Elizabeth and mine years ago. She and Richard had a mongrel dog they loved
named Sadie. The mutt gave birth to a
litter of pups. She came back in the
house one afternoon covered with fleas.
Marianne, a clean-freak of the Marine drill sergeant variety went into
overdrive. She prayed, Lord, how
could this happen? I’m so careful, and I
can’t afford another big vet bill, but I can’t put this mama in with the pups
with all those fleas. They took
the mutt to the vet and, in the examination the vet discovered the dog had a
problem that would’ve killed her, but could be cured with a simple, inexpensive
shot. Marianne came to Bible Study that
night praising her sovereign, loving Lord for fleas; FLEAS! Those little ugly bugs that are 90% teeth may
not look like a blessing, but without them Sadie the mama dog would’ve been
only a memory.
And then, the sovereign, intimate Lord, who chose and loved Jeremiah, gave
his life purpose and direction with a mission to accomplish because of:
3. Eternity
Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.” Jeremiah 1: 10
Talk about things we don’t understand; God’s plans are certainly something
you and I have a great deal of problem comprehending. God uses a different lens to look at eternity
than we do. Our only choice is to trust
Him.
Let’s do a little survey of Bible people who God has used to teach us the
reality of trusting a Sovereign, intimate, and eternal God. These are all people who tried to do right,
obey God, but had stuff happen that gave them reason to ask why:
·
Job was a model citizen who served God with a passion; his life fell apart and
the pain of not knowing why was killing him.
· Joseph loved God and behaved himself; his brothers threw him in a hole, then
sold him to slave traffickers…why, indeed?
· Paul gave up everything he’d ever earned, including
the respect and trust of the movers and shakers of the world, just to serve
God; he got shipwreck, beatings, humiliation, prison, and eventually
beheaded. Why?
· Peter knew Jesus, and served Jesus, and loved Jesus
ferociously; as thanks he got crucified upside-down. Why?
· John, the apostle Jesus favored more than just about anyone else spent his
retirement years imprisoned in a God-forsaken island prison camp working on the
chain gang, digging coal.
But the biggest why of all belongs to the carpenter’s
son, Jesus. He gave his life helping others, teaching
love, healing lepers, cripples, blind beggars, feeding the multitudes, and
standing up for the oppressed. They beat
Him, mocked Him, and put Him on a cross.
In the end he cried out why have You forsaken me? I tend to think Jesus understood the cost of
sin being forgiven was to have the Father turn his back on Him. He said that because the pain was great to
bear, and we needed to know that He knows our pain.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…Amen!
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[i] Title Images: Courtesy of Pixabay.com.
All Scripture quoted is from The New Living Translation (unless otherwise stated)
