Make No Excuse
Jeremiah 1:4-14, 17-19
He who is good at making excuses is seldom good at anything else. In Jeremiah chapter 1, God called Jeremiah before he was even born. God had a plan for him from the beginning. When God confronted him, however, Jeremiah first made excuses as to why he would not do what the Lord had for him to do.
The book of Jeremiah, the third longest book in Scripture, centers on the ministry of the prophet of the same name, whose ministry extended from 625 B.C. to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
After the exile of Judah to Babylon, Jeremiah continued to work among the small remnant of people who were not deported to Babylon. He finally went with them, reluctantly, to Egypt (43:1-7), when the threat of Babylonian reprisals against the remaining inhabitants of Judah on account of the murder of the governor Gedaliah became too great to ignore.
However, we should remember that before his service, Jeremiah attempted to avoid God’s call by offering excuses (verse 6). God addressed Jeremiah’s inadequacies and fears. The Lord told Jeremiah not to be afraid, for He would be with him to deliver him.
There are times that we in the church today also make excuses for not doing what God calls us to do. Think of all the things that need to be done in the church. Is God asking you to fill a position of service? If you sense that God is leading you to a task in your church, He will equip you to accomplish it.
In the Bible, God frequently used servants who saw themselves as inadequate for the task, but He promised to be with them when they started His work (verse 8).
When God calls us, He equips us. You can be assured that He knows what is going on in your world and He will be with you no matter what. Jeremiah faced difficulties and opposition, yet God was with him to accomplish his God-given task. Jeremiah became one of the best known prophets in Scripture because of his obedience.
We will experience difficulties in serving, but God assures us that He will be with us and will equip us so that He can accomplish His task through us.
Dinkins– Lessons in the BSL series for the summer quarter are being written by David Dinkins, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kingstree, and former director of missions.