Jeremiah was still a teenager when God called him to be a prophet, and his reaction was entirely human. “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth” (Jeremiah 1:6). It was the ancient equivalent of “You’ve got the wrong guy.” Like Moses before him, Jeremiah looked at his own weaknesses instead of God’s power. Isaiah did the same when he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” Apparently, God has a habit of choosing reluctant recruits. It reminds me of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. When Gandalf told him he must carry the ring of power to Mount Doom, Frodo protested, “I am not made for perilous quests.” Gandalf’s reply sounds like something Jeremiah could have heard from God Himself: “You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” None of us feel ready for the tasks God gives us—but readiness has never been a prerequisite for usefulness.
God’s response to Jeremiah’s hesitation was both a rebuke and a reassurance. He reminded Jeremiah that his qualifications had been settled before his birth: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5). God then gave him two commands—stop making excuses and stop being afraid. The Lord’s presence, not Jeremiah’s performance, would determine the outcome. A commentator summarized it perfectly: “Where God guides, He provides.” That truth is easy to preach but hard to practice. Most of us feel unqualified for our callings—whether parenting, teaching, serving, or just trying to live faithfully in a noisy world. We live in an instant society that wants quick results, not slow obedience. Jeremiah preached for forty years with almost no visible success, yet he never quit. That kind of faithfulness is rare today, but it is what God values most.
Jeremiah’s courage ultimately foreshadows Jesus, who also faced rejection but fulfilled His calling perfectly. Like Jeremiah, He was set apart before birth, and His ministry was marked by suffering rather than applause. Jesus told His disciples, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That was Jeremiah’s secret, and it is ours too. When we depend on God’s strength instead of our own, inadequacy becomes opportunity. Paul wrote, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Jeremiah may have felt too young for the job, but God knew exactly what He was doing. He still does.