Epiphany
January 25, 2016

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’ –Jeremiah 1:4-8

“I cannot do that I am only a_______.” Everyone can probably think of one or two or more rationalizations to fill in the blank as Jeremiah did. Actually, “I am only a boy” is probably one of the more credible reasons to question whether a person is really the one to take God’s message to not just adults, but the leadership. Although I must admit, I thought it was very wise of people trying to understand the challenges the Oklahoma City schools face when they asked some of the students.

I do not know when it finally seeped into my brain, through my thick skull that I am the only person over which I have some control regarding getting something I want actually accomplished. I have had the privilege of supervising a lot of very competent staff over the many years I worked for the state and I may have given them assignments but their completing the work was the result of their personal integrity and dedication to the services we provided. It is a joy to work with those type people, sharing the work load, each doing the tasks at which he or she was most accomplished and more experienced people mentoring new people.

A quick survey of the Bible would tell us that God called a lot of people to do very important tasks who were not the people we might have picked, including the boy Jeremiah. It is interesting though that we are now reading about them, learning from their wisdom, and experience some 2500+ years later. Guess God knew what God was doing. We might want to pay a little more attention to what God is calling us to do.

Prayer: Lord give us the courage to answer your call and guide us in the tasks you have for us. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.