“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 1:8
Louis Zamperini’s military plane crashed at sea during the war, killing eight of eleven men onboard. “Louie” and two others clambered into life rafts. They drifted for two months, fending off sharks, riding out storms, ducking bullets from an enemy plane, and catching and eating raw fish and birds. They finally drifted onto an island and were immediately captured. For two years Louie was beaten, tortured, and worked mercilessly as a prisoner of war. His remarkable story is told in the book Unbroken.
Jeremiah is one of the Bible’s unbreakable characters. He endured enemy plots (Jeremiah 11:18), was whipped and put in stocks (20:2), flogged and bound in a dungeon (37:15–16), and lowered by ropes into the deep mire of a cistern (38:6). He survived because God had promised to stay with him and rescue him (1:8). God makes a similar promise to us: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). God didn’t promise to save Jeremiah or us from trouble, but He has promised to carry us through trouble.
Louie recognized God’s protection, and after the war he gave his life to Jesus. He forgave his captors and led some to Christ. Louie realized that while we can’t avoid all problems, we need not suffer them alone. When we face them with Jesus, we become unbreakable.
Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NIV)
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
INSIGHT
- What problem is causing you stress?
- Tell Jesus that you believe His promise to stay with you through this trial. Let Him carry you.
Of all the passages in Scripture showing us the sovereignty of God, this is one of the most direct. God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (1:5), and He singles him out to be “a prophet to the nations” (v. 5). God spoke these words specifically to Jeremiah, and they had a special application for his particular mission. God would use him to “uproot and tear down” kingdoms as well as “to build and to plant” (v. 10). God may not use us to uproot kingdoms, but the principle of His sovereignty applies to us every bit as much as it did to Jeremiah. He knew each of us before we were even conceived, and He’s chosen us for His good purposes.
PRAYER
Jesus, You’re stronger than any storm. Please carry me through the one I’m facing! Amen!!
Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Ecclesiastes 1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33
