Why Do We Question Our Calling?

Why Do We Question Our Calling?

Jeremiah 1:4-9 “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! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”  But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.  Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.”

These are some pretty powerful verses.  Imagine the Lord coming to you and saying them, can you imagine that?  God starts off by telling Jeremiah that before God formed him in the womb He knew Him and before he was born He consecrated him, and appointed him a prophet to the nations.  This blew my minds last night.  I am surprised too, because I have heard these verse before.  I have heard people give talks on these verses.  I have also been hearing people say that you already have everything you need to succeed inside of you.  And yet, I never put two and two together.  I am not sure I ever knew it actually said that in the Bible.  Or, maybe I did and I forgot.  I am not sure, but it definitely stood out last night when I was listening to the Elevation podcast episode “Tricks are for Kids” with Pastor Steven Furtick.  

Pastor Steven said the Lord was telling Jeremiah that he had called him for amazing things and before Jeremiah could start with the excuses, God told Jeremiah that He knew him before he was formed in the womb.  That struck me in a different way last night.  Perhaps its because I am in this Encounter Ministries class and they are teaching us to be activated in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and then to go out and use them.  The going out and using them part can be scary.  It involves risk and risk can be scary.  In class, especially in this quarter we have been speaking words of prophecy over each other and that can sometimes feel scary or intimidating for both people.

It can be scary to feel like you are responsible for speaking God’s words over someone.  The enemy can come in and start to make you question yourself.  He whispers in your ear, “Who are you to hear God, you are nobody.”  “You aren’t good enough to hear God.”  “God would never pick you.” He will continue as long as you will listen.  We have to learn to shut the enemy down as soon as we realize he is there.  We can speak truth back to the enemy.  “Who are we?  We are children of God.”  “We aren’t good enough, we know and yet God loves us and uses us for amazing things anyway.” “God did pick me and you and every single one of us.”  One important thing to remember is that we are not the one coming up with the words to say, we are just the deliverer of those words.  God is doing all the heavy lifting, we are just the messenger.  

It can also be scary to be receiving the words because what if God is calling you to a task that you might not like, one you don’t necessarily want.  Imagine how Jeremiah must have felt.  God told Jeremiah that he appointed him as a prophet of nations.  Not a prophet of those he is close to, not a prophet of the town he grew up in, not a prophet of a nation, a prophet of nations.  How crazy is that?  I feel like that would be a lot for any one person to hear.  At least the disciples were sent out two by two.  I can’t imagine what Jeremiah must have been feeling. I think Jeremiah’s response was one similar to all of our responses when God calls us to do big things.  Jeremiah replied, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” Yep, that is pretty much what we would all do.  We would start in with the excuses, and don’t worry if you don’t have any because the enemy will whisper plenty in your ear.  He does not want you to answer your call to greatness.  

If you are feeling called to something that seems scary to you right now, know that it is perfectly normal to come up with excuses why you can’t answer that call.  You are in great company, Moses came up with excuses, and Jeremiah came up with excuses, even Abraham questioned how it would be possible to have a child in his advanced years.  It is normal to question, God knows you have doubts and when you bring them to Him, he provides answers.  In this case Jeremiah was concerned because he was young and because he didn’t know how to speak.  Those seem like legitimate concerns.  Who is going to listen to a youth about important things?  How can he go out and speak to Nations when he is not a public speaker?  What will he say, who will listen?  Do these questions sound familiar?  Are you questioning your call?  Are you wondering how God could be picking you for something when you don’t know anything about it?  You don’t know how to be a prophet, a healer, in deliverance ministry, a teacher or any of the other things God is calling you to do.  That’s ok, God’s got you.  

I love God’s reply to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command you you shall speak.  Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” I love this because as much as we can understand what Jeremiah was thinking, we still have to remember he was talking to God.  Can you imagine telling God you can’t do what He told you to do?  I had a hard time saying no to my parents growing up, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to say no to God.  Also, it’s funny because when we question God about our calling it as if we are saying that we know more than God.  It is as if we think that God didn’t know the things we are saying about us, like He forgot that we were shy, or we didn’t like public speaking or that Jeremiah was young or Abraham was old.  It makes me laugh because we all do it and yet, He is God, he knows those things we see as weaknesses and He already has a plan for them.  We just have to trust that He will equip us for the task he has given us. Actually this verse says He has already equipped us.  He knew from before we were even a thought who He wanted us to be and he filled us with all we need to become that person.

The verse ends with, “Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah didn’t have to know what to say, God gave him he words to say.  God put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth.  That is awesome. I hope God will do that for me too!  When I am writing my podcasts I ask God for it to be His words I am sharing instead of my own.  Who wouldn’t want God’s word’s in their mouth?  God also tells Jeremiah not to be afraid because He will deliver him.  I am sure it took Jeremiah awhile to let this all sink in.  God can tell us not to be afraid and yet it is hard to not be afraid sometimes.  Our human understanding of the world gets in the way of understanding how God will deliver us.  There is a saying that I love and so I may have already shared it with you. However, I feel like it is something we can’t hear enough as it is so true.  Instead of focusing on how big our problems are, or in this context, how big our calling is, we can focus on how big our God is.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to say yes, we just need some extra courage.  We are sorry we question you, our thoughts are not your thoughts and we don’t see all that you see.  Please help us to trust more and question less.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  It is incredible that you knew us even before we were formed in the womb.  It is amazing that you love us that much.  You are so powerful, help us trust that you will deliver us from evil and equip us for any call you give us.  We are so grateful Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  In case you didn’t hear Tuesday’s episode I am heading on a retreat and so if there is a day where I do not post an episode, know that I am ok, nothing is wrong, I just either didn’t have wifi or life was happening and I didn’t get it posted.  I am planning to still post one every day, but just in case it doesn’t happen I don’t want you to worry.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace