Called to Speak Up--February 4, 2025

Called to Speak Up--February 4, 2025

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
 and before you were born I consecrated you;
 I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”
 But the Lord said to me,
 “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
 for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
 and you shall speak whatever I command you.
 Do not be afraid of them,
 for I am with you to deliver you,
 says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:4-8)

The old saying is right: God doesn't call the equipped, but rather equips the called. 

That is to say, God isn't sitting up in heaven twiddling the ol' divine thumbs waiting around for the perfect person to come along with just the right talents and an ideal resume.  Rather, God meets us as we are, calls us as we are, and then equips us with what we need in order to do what we are called to do.  God doesn't wait until we are perfect, or hold out to find someone who is perfect, but finds us as we are, raises us up, and gives us the tools for our mission.

That means several things for us.  For starters, it means that we don't have to worry that we are not smart enough, important enough, holy enough, or influential enough to be used by God.  God doesn't demand any of us have an advanced degree in theology, a certain balance in our bank accounts, or a minimum number of years' experience before calling us to be a part of God's purposes.  And in a culture like ours that is always lobbing reasons at us to think that we aren't good enough, significant enough, or acceptable enough to matter, just that truth by itself is good news.  We don't have to worry that God will take a closer look at our flaws, weaknesses, or liabilities and say, "Sorry, there's no way I can work through the likes of you."  

But there is another side to this reality.  Because the thing is, if God doesn't wait to find the perfect applicant before calling us into God's work, then we can't hide behind our supposed inadequacies as a way of avoiding God's call.  It can be easy to say, "God, you can't use the likes of ME, because I'm too...." and then fill in the blank with something we think should disqualify us, or at least get us off the hook, for doing whatever thing God is going to call us to do.  And if I am pre-emptively unfit for God's work, then I don't have to worry that God will lead me out of my comfort zones or stretch me beyond the familiar.  That's the playbook Moses uses ("Don't send me to Pharaoh--I'm not a good public speaker!"), as well as the prophet Isaiah, ("Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips and from a people of unclean lips!"), and plenty of others in the sweep of the Scriptures.  And, of course, the prophet Jeremiah tries a similar tactic, too, as he relates his own calling by God in these words that many of us heard just this past Sunday in worship.  Good ol' Jeremiah begins by protesting to God that he's too young to be called by God, and that he won't be able to speak for God because of his youth.  He's still operating out of the assumption that God needs to find someone else who is more qualified, rather than working through Jeremiah and making him able to do what God is calling him to do.

Of course, that's just it: God doesn't accept Jeremiah's argument that he's too young to be useful, not any more than God let Moses off the hook for the showdown with Pharaoh just because he wasn't a polished public speaker.  God says, in effect, to all of those who have been called, "I will be with you, and my presence is what will make you worthy.  My presence beside you will give you courage.  My Spirit within you will give you strength and enable you to accomplish my purposes."  It is God's presence that makes us able to do what God calls us to, not our own awesomeness.

And that by itself is good news--but it also means, too, then, that God make take any of us by the hand and lead us somewhere we don't think we are ready to go, or to do something we don't think we are prepared for.  God calls young Jeremiah, not to an easy job of patting people on the back or telling kings what they wanted to hear, but speaking truth to power and announcing to his people that they were headed for exile.  To people who were convinced that their shows of religiosity made them God's special favorites, Jeremiah had to say that God was not going to be bought off with sacrifices or empty prayers, and was still going to let the Babylonians come and pull down their walls and even destroy the Temple.  To people who treated God as their lucky charm who would make them invincible in battle, Jeremiah was sent to tell them that God was in fact the one letting the foreign empires defeat them.  And just when the people were ready to give up hope altogether, Jeremiah would be the one daring them to believe that God could do a new thing and start over with them, even in the wake of exile.  At every turn, Jeremiah was called beyond what he was comfortable with, and certainly beyond what he thought he was "good" at, and instead God equipped him to do precisely what God called him to do.  

I know that in our own day, it is really easy to believe that the troubles we face are too big for any of us to do anything about.  I know how easy it is to feel defeated already from the moment your feet hit the floor in the morning.  And I know that any one of us might say, "But God, I don't have influence... or status... or a public platform... or official credentials..." and to think that there's no way we can make a positive impact in the face of all the world's rottenness.  But Jeremiah's story reminds us that God doesn't need people in positions of power or social media influencers to change the course of history--God uses ordinary people, even ones who are too afraid to speak up when God first gets a hold of them, and equips them with the Spirit, the courage, and the wisdom to offer an alternative to the cruelty, greed, hatred, and arrogance of the world around.  Even if we protest that we can't do it, and even if someone else has told us we aren't worthy, God is the One doing the calling, and God is the One doing the equipping.  

You and I, as ordinary as we are, can be the voices through whom God speaks a better word than the world's petty yelling and childish bluster.  You and I, who might believe we are too young or too old or too insignificant or too uncertain, we can be the ones through whom God's message defies Pharaoh or wakes up complacent crowds or gives hope to folks who feel like they are in exile in their own homes.  It is possible, even when we don't think we are worthy or ready, because God is the One who makes us able.  Like Jeremiah long ago, we are called to speak up.

The only real question, I suppose, is whether we will take seriously what God says about us, and dare to trust when God says, "You are called to speak up for me."

Where might God be leading each of us to speak up on this day?

Lord God, we are afraid to ask it, because we are nervous about going beyond our comfort zones, but we will dare to ask it anyhow--call us for your purposes, and then equip us for what you have called us to do.