Jeremiah 1:6-7 — 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.”
God told Jeremiah, “Do not make an excuse. Just go and speak whatever I give you to say.” This sounds so familiar to me because I am like Jeremiah. Instead of saying, “I am only a youth,” I have said, “I am too old,” “I have no experience,” or “I do not know enough.”
But the Lord does not call us for our age, our experience, or our knowledge (although He can use those things). God calls us so that He can be magnified despite our inadequacies! If stones can cry out the praises of Christ, so can we (Luke 19:40). If mountains and hills can burst into song and the trees of the field can clap their hands, so can we (Isaiah 55:12).
What keeps us from the call of God in our lives? Wrong thinking. When we think that there is some reason that God cannot use us, we are not thinking correctly.
If Paul had thought, “I was persecuting Christ’s church, so I cannot be a missionary,” he would have never left Damascus to preach to the Gentiles. If David had thought, “I committed adultery and arranged the death of a man, so I cannot minister to the Lord,” He never would have written so many beautiful psalms or helped prepare for the building of the temple. If Peter had thought, “I denied the Lord three times, so I am not qualified to preach,” he never would have opened his mouth and spoken a sermon that brought 3,000 souls to Christ in one day.
All of the men and women used by God in the Bible were flawed in some way, yet God used them to do great things. If you have breath in your lungs and a heartbeat, God can and will use you if you let Him. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6).
01/12/2025 Devotional
"God calls us so that He can be magnified despite our inadequacies!."
Psalms 127:1-5 NLT
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. [2] It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. [3] Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. [4] Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. [5] How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put…