So that I can join in with the Saturday Psalm & Praise, I think on Sundays I will do a Scripture post rather than a Psalm post – I hope it will inspire you just as much! In my Quiet Times I am reading Jeremiah, and today I will post Jeremiah 1:1-10, which I find greatly inspiring.
1 These are the words of Yirmeyahu the son of Hilkiyahu, one of the cohanim living in ‘Anatot, in the territory of Binyamin. 2 The word of ADONAI came to him during the days of Yoshiyahu the son of Amon, king of Y’hudah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It also came during the days of Y’hoyakim the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, continuing until the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu, king of Y’hudah, right up until the time Yerushalayim was carried away captive, in the fifth month.
4 Here is the word of ADONAI that came to me: 5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I separated you for myself. I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” 6 I said, “Oh, Adonai ELOHIM, I don’t even know how to speak! I’m just a child!” 7 But ADONAI said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a child.’ “For you will go to whomever I send you, and you will speak whatever I order you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you, says ADONAI, to rescue you.” 9 Then ADONAI put out his hand and touched my mouth, and ADONAI said to me, “There! I have put my words in your mouth. 10 Today I have placed you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.”
This really speaks to me of how we ‘can do all through Christ who strengthens us’ (Phil. 4:13) – and ONLY through Him! Too often we try to lean on our own understanding, as Scripture teaches us, and that ends in disaster, as the Israelites were about to find out through Jeremiah’s message from God. However, when we truly submit to God in our hearts, and seek His will for our lives, then He will be with us, guiding us. When we trust in Him we are not striving alone, but by His power and Spirit. And as Jeremiah was to find out, even young people like myself can do amazing things when we follow the Lord.
An interesting fact about this passage is the Word of Adonai who comes to Jeremiah. Now, who do we call the Word of God? Jesus, that’s who. Note that God PHYSICALLY comes to Jeremiah and touches him – it is markedly different from the Spirit coming to him, or God appearing in say, a pillar of cloud. No, it is a walking, talking, physical embodiment of God, which leads us to conclude that it is Jesus. Too often this surprises us, but Jesus is found in physical form throughout the Old Testament. Why, in the Garden of Eden, when God walked in the garden in the cool of the day, it is Jesus – when God the Father appears to Moses and others he is clearly in a distinct, non-humanoid form but that is not the case here. Again, when Mesach, Shadrach and Abednego are thrown into the furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar, someone who ‘looked like a Son of Man’ was with them. I wonder who that could be! The authority of the Torah is confirmed by Jesus’ presence – He acknowledged it as being from God, and that we are not to reject it. A very timely thought at Rosh Hoshana!
Pomegranate Tea 