This is the record of Jeremiah’s calling to be a prophet. He was chosen by God before he was born. God had a plan for his life beyond what he could imagine. It became his duty to warn the people of coming judgment without their repenting. Even though they were called forth to be his people, they had little inclination to consistently serve him. The idols of other nation were more attractive to their lust and rebellion. With the history of God’s deliverance from Egypt, their collective thoughts were never appreciative. Because of their waywardness, God found it necessary to provide prophets that would warn them of coming discipline.
These prophets carried a heavy responsibility in that without their efforts the people had no hope at all. These men stood representing God’s grace at a time when grace was at a premium. The men were speaking for God offering redemption. The prophet Jeremiah did not volunteer. He was called in a miraculous way before he was born. He resisted the call. There were other things he could have done in life. Everything is more profitable, easier to fulfill. This was not just an opportunity for a job. It was a calling straight from God. It was an obligation to inform the people of their dangers that lay ahead. It did not matter if he succeeded in some special way. His obligation was only to speak, to tell the people the thought God laid on his heart. This is not what the average man could do. It does not matter if such a man is successful as the world counts success. His kind of success is obedience regardless of the outcome.
The man who is speaking behind the pulpit cannot be there at the initiation of his own calling. His intent must be to declare those things that God has laid on his heart. To do so, he must have a working relationship with God above any in the congregation that would have. He must have the knowledge from study and prayer to explain the intention of a certain passage of Scripture. If he does not have that calling, he is only delivering a biblical speech based on human abilities. To differentiate between the man who can speak well and the man who has a God calling is to fulfill God’s purpose, God’s words to offer comfort as a means of redemption.
The prophet of today with God’s calling has an inner consciousness of the Holy Spirit because he does not stand alone before the people; he stands with God beside him. The words he is to speak are not from his own intellect. They are the essence of what happens when God puts words in his mouth. His message on a particular day would be that of prophetic instruction of destruction or building up, or of planting a new thing in the minds of his hearers. No average man can have such a divine ordination without a divine calling. Should a man think that he is called by God, he should do as Jeremiah did by rejecting such a call to be sure it is not a calling from his own ego, his eagerness, his encouragement from others. The call of a prophet for the people of God can only be from the experience he has had in rejecting and accepting this high position to speak for God.
Such a calling requires genuine humility to bear up under the responsibility that directs his path, that imposes itself on his mind. To speak for God is primarily for a pastor, but it can also be for that unique person that bears the weight of concern for lost souls. His timing while interacting with the community comes from his hosting of the Holy Spirit in his life. Such a church member is significantly special as he takes the message of the church into the world. He may be called upon to speak for God in the factory or in the bakery or in the hospital. Wherever he goes he is a spokesman for the great Creator. It is not just a job to be God’s prophet. It is a calling and an ordination. It is an obligation placed on him by the Lord God. Such a person cannot be average. He must be the man who preaches from the pulpit or witnesses to his neighbor sharing the words that God placed on him. Who among us can hear the calling, can speak the words of God, who maintains a tender heart for lost souls?
