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Job 32:9 Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice.
I was 24 years old when I walked the aisle of Calvary Baptist Church in Simms, Texas, and took the outstretched hand of Pastor Harold Churchill. I told him I felt the Lord was calling me to preach. He smiled an encouraging smile and then informed the congregation before leading them all in prayer for me.
This set things in motion and before long I became the pastor of a new Church about 4 miles down the highway. Fortunately the Lord had been preparing me, even without me knowing it. However, except for the children, I was the youngest member of the Church.
Being younger than the group you are trying to influence can have its particular challenges. For people to trust you, you must first trust yourself. If you don’t think you know what you’re talking about, no one else will either. All of your counsel will be just like words in the wind.
If what you are saying doesn’t move you, it won’t move others. If what you teach does not burn in you, it won’t burn in anyone who hears you. It can be difficult to convince others when you’re not confident yourself. And, being the youngest player on the team, even when you’re the captain of the team, can make it harder.
After that first day, I did not wrestle with my calling, but my calling did not make me smart. Over and over I found myself to be the youngest and least experienced person in the room and yet, I was the one everybody was looking to for leadership. This is most often when God steps in.
One of my favorite prophets in the Bible is Jeremiah. Jeremiah had similar feelings about himself as did I and several other men and women God has used dynamically in the past. Jeremiah was a contemporary prophet with Ezekiel and Daniel. Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem when Ezekiel and Daniel were taken captive to Babylon. Daniel read and was inspired by the words of Jeremiah. (Daniel 9)
One of the best decisions I ever made was early on in my walk with God. I decided I was going to read the Bible and know the characters so that I could tell the stories to my children and my children’s children. The Bible is filled with such wonderful stories, and they teach so many powerful principles for life. Reading the Bible and telling the stories is still one of my favorite pastimes and as I said, Jeremiah is one of my favorite prophets.
The best I can figure from my studies is that Jeremiah was 21 years old he began to publicly prophesy and protest against the sins of the nation. At that time the current King, Josiah, had already been ruling for 13 years and presumably knew a whole lot more than the seemingly young religious idealists Jeremiah.
Let me tell you from experience, both mine and Noah’s, and even Jesus’: It’s not easy, nor is it popular, to try and tell a group of people they are wrong and they need to get right with God. Many who were just trying to help have been beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for simply preaching the Good News which sets the captives free.
The prophet Jeremiah spent his whole life being persecuted and he was only trying to help. Where did he get the strength to stand up and keep going under such pressure? Let’s read the introduction to the book of:
Jeremiah 1 NKJV
1 ¶ The words of Jeremiah
the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of
Benjamin,
2 to whom the word of the
LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the
thirteenth year of his reign.
3 It came also in the
days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the
eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying
away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 ¶ Then the word of the
LORD came to me, saying:
5 “Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a
prophet to the nations.”
6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord
GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
7 But the LORD said to
me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send
you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of
their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.”
This word from God came directly to Jeremiah and it inspired him and gave him the strength he needed in difficult times of stress, pressure, and indecision. God strengthened and encouraged Jeremiah but then God went a step further and told Jeremiah to write these words down so that others in the future could also benefit from hearing the Word of the Lord.
There is no doubt some of the young men God was thinking about included Daniel, along with the three Hebrew children named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (Daniel 3)
These same words must have been on the Apostle Paul’s mind when he told a young boy named Timothy:
1 Timothy 4
12 Let no one despise
your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in
spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
You are never too young or inexperienced to be used by God. You can know the next decision to make and the direction to take … it is already in you! As well, you can know what you should say to others to encourage them to get right with God.
Do not say I can’t. How will others trust you if you don’t trust the voice of God in you. God will put His words in your mouth. If the counsel you are giving doesn’t move you, it won’t move those who hear you. And, even if others don’t change, you will have given them their best chance and that is all God is asking you to do.
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Jeremiah – Get up, go forward, and keep going … God’s got this! He won’t let
you down.
