I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations. – Jeremiah 1:5

I believe the two people that had it roughest in the Bible were Job and Jeremiah.  Yet, I really doubt if I could talk to either of them that they would agree.  God flat out tells Jeremiah before he begins his ministry that He specifically made him for His purpose.  Jeremiah quickly disagrees with God when he is called, but God lets him know that he was custom built for this, and besides, He was going to be with him the whole time.  Jeremiah would preach and literally no one would listen to him.  His words were constantly rejected by the people.  Humanly speaking, it seems impossible that Jeremiah could endure all that he endured, but he did.  How?  Because God built him to endure.

Nobody would look at me, me included, and say “that guy has been through a lot.”  The truth is that this world and my own flesh have been enough to make me weak and feel like I should quit because there is no way that God could possibly be pleased with me.  I’ve felt like that more often than I’d like to admit, but it seems that every time I feel like this, God reaches down and strengthens me.  I’ll go to a “random” church service, and it will feel so tailored just for me.  I’ll be listening to something, and it will feel like those charged paddles the doctors use to restart a heart were used on me.  I sit here amazed at how God has truly kept His promise to be with me every step of the way.

I remember the first time God unexpectedly “spoke” to my heart and mind.  I had just come up out of the baptismal pool and I heard in my spirit, “This is my son in whom I’m well pleased.”  He was pleased with me before I ever lifted a finger for Him.  He was pleased with me before I played my first worship song, preached my first sermon, or wrote my first WMD.  Even the thought that I could be pleasing to God at this very moment is kind of hard to accept, but if it was based on our own efforts, who would ever make the cut?  Even Jeremiah quickly made excuses, rebuked God’s calling, and made out like He had made a mistake.

Without God in my life, I can only imagine how stressed I would be today.  I’ve got plenty to do and plenty to worry about.  But this morning I want to hand all that worry, fear, and doubt over to Him.  Instead of being overwhelmed, I want to walk in the confidence that He created me, and He built me to live this day.  How can I fail if He is with me?

Lord, it is crazy to think about Jeremiah’s life.  He was placed in stocks and thrown in a cistern simply because people didn’t want to believe the hard truths he was telling them.  Here I am . . . someone does listen to me occasionally.  I get to see good results from time to time.  Help me endure in what feels like the winter months of my spiritual life.  Help me to know that when all seems hopeless and helpless, that You are right there and there is nothing that is going to happen that You haven’t built me to endure.  I love You, Lord and want nothing more than to simply finish my race well.  Amen!