IBS Application for Jeremiah 15:16

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”

Honestly, I needed to do a study on something for my spiritual health. It’s been a hard week, and today has been no exception. I need to know who my God is, and that He loves me.

This was a portion of a complaint that Jeremiah had made to God in the midst of the great persecution he faced at the hands of his own people and at the hands of the Babylonians who were attacking Israel at the time. In the midst of all of this madness, he recalls to the Lord his faith, and how he tries to take comfort in God’s calling, while also reminding the Lord that He called Jeremiah to a purpose in the first place.

It’s hard for me to not be able to relate with Jeremiah on some level. Although I am not being threatened with death on a regular basis, I do know what it’s like to have the people you care about ignore your God-given advice, and then see the destruction they come to as a result of all their willful ignorance. It isn’t an easy thing to go through, and this was Jeremiah’s reality every day for most of his life.

But beyond all of the gloominess of his day-to-day experiences, he had this hope: that it was not all for nothing, for he had found joy in the words of the Lord, his God, and God has called him to speak on His behalf as a prophet. This was perhaps one of the few comforts that Jeremiah had in the midst of such a depressing life, that God had preordained him to perform such an important task, even if it was one that seemed so pointless and hopeless to him in the moment.

For me, this gives me some hope as well. Although I am no prophet, I have been called to God’s purposes in the way He would have me fulfill those purposes. I have found joy and delight in His words, and He has filled me with a passion for Him that I would not trade for anything. Although I do not always believe that the promises of the purposes that I believe that He has called me to are true, I know in this moment that they are, whether I feel like they are or not. And like Jeremiah, I need to find solace in the Lord, and in knowing that He has called me.


My application for this one will be to pray now that God would meet me where I am in my doubting and fear to show me that I am His child, chosen to do work for Him. I will approach the throne of the Lord addressing Him about the calling He has made on my life as Jeremiah did and beg Him to show me that what I am doing for Him now is not wasted.

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