CREATED FOR A COURSE AND A CAUSE

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 – Jeremiah 1:5

“…Why was I born AT a time like this?

…You were born FOR a time like this. So it was for Jeremiah, so it is for you and me.

It was Jeremiah’s lot to minister to a nation that was dying. Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust – all the Deadly Sins – were killing its soul. Jeremiah’s days were as evil as ours.

But evil days are not all bad. Paul writes, “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). We read that verse as though Paul is insisting we get busy because the days are short, but that’s not what he is saying at all. He’s insisting rather that perilous days are times of unparalleled opportunity. Those who know God should buy them up. “”Redeem the time; redeem the dream,” T. S. Eliot said.

But we respond as Jeremiah did, “I don’t know a thing…What in the world can I do?”

The answer is that God has already done everything that needs to be done: He has planned our usefulness. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). There is a course laid out by our Lord’s matchless wisdom and love. All we have to do is follow Him and He’ll make our path plain.

But here’s the surprising thing: not only has God prepared the path for us, but He has also PREPARED US for the path… (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

Before Jeremiah was born, he was known and uniquely crafted for a special task. How this can be consistent with the exercise of free will and choice, I cannot say. That’s a mystery. I can only say it’s true, and what was true for Jeremiah is true for us as well.

What this means is that at conception God placed in us all the faculties necessary to carry out our unique role in this world. Our bodies, minds, emotions, and wills were formed by Him for the particular work for which we’ve been eternally intended. And then God broke the mold.”