“God’s Great Plan for Our Lives”

Freed to Extent Our Freedom

Scripture

Jeremiah 1:4–10 KJV 1900

Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

All of us are driven by different things—different situations, settings, people, problems—work, family, interests, and so on. This morning I want to remind us of the importance of living our lives on purpose for the Lord.

Knowing that today is the first Sunday of February where we celebrate Black history or more important recognize our history. When we look at the Biblical record we see that history plays an important role in the development of God’s Children. History is a source of Faith. From history we can learn what God has done for others and have faith that He is able to do the same thing for us. When Moses tried to give the children of Israel reasons to trust God, he begins his writings not with the Exodus story but rather with the historical book call Genesis. That tells the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. History is also a source of Hope.

Not only is history important generally, but black history is important particularly. Black history teaches us about the numerous contribution made by individuals of African descent. Contributions in the field of science, politics, world affairs, and education. Lessons about hard work, faithfulness, and “You can make it if you try”.

Today, we are looking at Jeremiah, chapter 1. It’s about the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet. And who was it that called him? It was God. And how did he call him? Through His Word. The Word of God, powerful to effect what it declares, came to the prophet, and, as a result, it would come through the prophet. In verse 4, Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came to me. But it didn’t just come to him; it overtook him. It entered him. So that, in verse 9, Jeremiah said, Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, Now I have put my words in your mouth. The Word of God addressed him first; then, afterward, it would addressed by him.

I am hard pressed to think of any greater need than this. You name the time and the place. Is there any greater need than to be addressed by the Word of God? Not in Jeremiah’s day. The Word that sounded forth from the prophet’s mouth met with a whole society gone bad: systemic evil, on the one hand, and individual complicity, on the other. Times were dark. In Jeremiah, chapter 7, the LORD summarizes the headlines of the day. Injustice was rampant. The powerless were oppressed. The orphan was abandoned. The widow was shamed. And the “stranger…within [the] gates” was betrayed. Life was expendable. The innocent had no one to protect them. And the people were going “after other gods to [their] own hurt” (Jer. 7:6).

That’s the way it always is when people go “after other gods.” Idolatry always brings with it “hurt,” because it deceives us into believing that we can live for self, indulge every whim, seek only pleasure, and still be happy. Pure and simple, that’s a lie – and worse, it is a lie we tell ourselves.

Even Jeremiah was self-deceived, at least at the beginning. When the LORD called him to declare the Word of God, he wavered. Look at his reply to God in verse 6. He said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” In short, he said No! to God. His excuse? Well, he had two. He pled incompetency: “I do not know how to speak.” And inadequacy: “I am only a boy.”

But in verse 8, the LORD unmasked the real issue: It was fear. “Do not be afraid,” God said. It’s no wonder that Jeremiah was afraid. He lived in fearful times, all the more fearful, however, because – well, what is the famous line from Edmund Burke? “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Jeremiah himself might have done nothing, had God not spoken, had God not called him. But, when God speaks, all that is said is done.

And what God said to Jeremiah was this: “See, today, I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). Jeremiah would not have the luxury of doing nothing. He had the Word of God “like a burning fire shut up in [his] bones” (Jer. 20:9). He could no more hold it in than he could hold fire in his bosom. And so, he spoke, and, when he did, God spoke through him. And what he said came to pass. Because when all is said, all is done – that is, when God is the one speaking.

This is a story of how God can use anyone and everyone to do his work in the world. Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet, but he argued that he was not qualified to be a prophet because of his age. God's answer was that his request was part of his plan for Jeremiah's life. God said that he would tell Jeremiah what to do and what to say, and he did. God also knew that Jeremiah would be persecuted and opposed in his work, but God promised that he would be with Jeremiah and he was. God keeps his promises.

Great men do not seek power-they have it thrust upon them. When God looks for a leader, he goes after someone who isn't looking for the position. God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. He calls us and equips us to share the Good News. He equips us to face the consequences of sharing the Good News. He uses our strengths and our weaknesses. He loves us and approves of us. Nothing we do now or in the future can change that. His love for us is genuine.

Jeremiah accepted God's plan for his life. Jeremiah was set apart by God for his prophetic work. He was God's spokesperson. He predicted the doom that Israel would face unless the people repented. God promised through Jeremiah that Israel's suffering would facilitate their redemption. God did not abandon them. Jeremiah's words had the power to lead the Hebrews to actions that produced results and had consequences.

Jeremiah was to pronounce words of judgment and words of mercy and hope. The people of Israel had to endure God's judgement before they could receive God's mercy. We do not have to go through the same process. Jesus accepted God's judgement for our sins when he died for us on the cross. Jesus accepted God's judgment so we would receive God's mercy as long as we believe in faith.

Our society needs more people like Jeremiah. In other words, society needs more people who sense their call in life and who pursue it. We have become a society that is interested only in instant gratification, short-term gains and quick fixes. We have little loyalty to the long-term because we have lost the sense of how far back our origins really do go.

God is always speaking to us. When we speak for him, he will provide us with the words to say. God has a plan for our lives-everything that pertains to life, his promises to us, our healings, the words we speak on his behalf. All we have to do is say "yes" to his will, his way and his word. We have to trust it, believe it, receive it, watch and wait for it to become fully manifested in our lives.

Each and every one of us is unique. This uniqueness enriches the world when we give ourselves to the community around us. God related to us as individuals because each and every one of us is unique. We were created in love for love and by God for God. When our lives are broken, God can put them back together. When our plan for our lives falls apart, he is there to fix it so that it is the same as his plan for our lives. We are wanted, cherished and loved by God. We belong to God.

You know, everything happens for a reason. Even before I was saved, I seemed to have the knowing that nothing in life was a coincidence. I just knew that we encounter experiences in life for a purpose, either to learn an important life lesson, or to grow in some way, but more importantly, to shape us into the person that we need to be to face future circumstances that we currently have no knowledge of.

But once I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I encountered an entirely different perspective and understanding of meaning. It was from that point onwards that I understood that not only everything happened for a reason, but there was an all-knowing and loving God who was orchestrating everything in our lives. And I can tell you, that that was a life changing moment.

And I quickly came to realize that we live in a fallen and sinful world. We live in a world where our enemy seems to run rampant. We look at what is happening overseas, and we struggle to comprehend why things happen the way they do. And it leads us to ask the big question that plagues believers and non-believers alike: why do people face trials and pain? Why, in a world where God is sovereign, is there so much suffering around us?

Now I can’t give you an answer as to why we go through trials, pain and suffering in life. I don’t think that we even have the capacity to fully understand why. But when we look at the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, we can see the theme of the suffering of Israel.

The prophet Jeremiah knew what it meant to go through suffering. His nation had been taken over by the Babylonians, who sent the people into exile, and tried to eliminate their national identity and culture. The Babylonians even tried to force all under the Babylonian empire to worship idols and commit great sin against our God.

Many times we can feel like we are exiled. We can feel exiled from our family. We can feel exiled from our society. Perhaps it is because of your faith, or maybe some other reason. During the time of Israel’s exile, the Lord gave a word to Jeremiah, who wrote it in a letter of encouragement to the exiles of Babylon. In perhaps one of the most well-known passages from the prophetic books, he wrote:

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ – Jeremiah 29:11.