COURAGE PROMISED TO A FEARFUL MESSENGER

Jer_1:1-19



God has a distinct purpose for each life, and our one aim should be to discover and work out His plan. See Psa_139:16; Gal_1:15. The sanctification here referred to applies to office rather than to character, and means set apart. See Joh_17:19. Jeremiah was very young, and shrank from the responsibility of the great mission entrusted to him. Thus it has been with the noblest, Exo_4:10. But that is godly fear indeed which casts us back on God. He never gives a commission without assuming the responsibility of its execution in, and with, or through, us. Powers of utterance are specially His gift, Isa_6:7; Act_6:10; 1Co_1:5. The almond tree in Hebrew is the wakeful tree. It awakes from the winter sleep earlier than others, flowering in January and fruiting in March. It indicated the swiftness of God’s movement. The boiling pot is the symbol of war. The promises of Jer_1:18-19 are very precious to all who are called to stand in the breach and charge men with their sins.