I Am Only

Thank you, Ashandra. What a pretty voice and what beautiful lyrics. It's really encouraging. Psalm 20 is a beautiful psalm that really is an encouraging one. Because I think in this world it is difficult to be encouraged sometimes. Has anyone ever heard of Murphy's Law? Okay, is there anyone that hasn't heard of Murphy's Law? It's kind of the exact opposite of Psalm 20. If anything can go wrong, it will. It will. Not very encouraging, is it? Of course, I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Say's Law. S-E-A-Y, Say's Law. It's kind of like Murphy's Law. It says, nothing ever comes out as planned. Then, of course, a related law. I think it's Murphy's Seventh Law. Maybe it's its ninth law, something like that. It's something like there's a fundamental law of nature that nothing ever quite works out. You ever feel like that? You ever feel like that? Maybe you're familiar with the Kroger Principle. The Kroger Principle is that the bag that tears always has the eggs in it. Then, of course, there's slug's rule. It's very closely connected to the Kroger Principle. That's that the slowest checker is always in the express lane. Then there's Einstein's Law of Math. Maybe we could say it's the ABC Law as well. Einstein's Law of Math. If you know it, it's not on the test. Then there's the ever-popular Splat's Law. Splat's Law is that the first bug to hit a clean windshield is right between your eyes. That seems to be the case. So many of those. You start looking up these crazy little laws. It's unbelievable how many goofy little sayings there are that have this kind of a perspective, a very negative perspective. Maybe it's a little bit reflective of the kind of world that we live in. We live in a very negative world. We live in a pretty tough world that doesn't most often see the positive side of things. As I was thinking about some of those sayings, a Bible character came to mind. Jeremiah came to my mind as I was thinking about some of these crazy Murphy's Laws. Because Jeremiah seems to be a vision of strength, certainly a man of commitment. Yet at times, Jeremiah was kind of a sorrowful kind of character. Somebody that it seems like you could sympathize with some of the difficulties that he faced. Jeremiah sometimes is called the weeping prophet because God gave him the task of calling out people, showing them their sins. And of course, in this kind of world that we live in, we live in a very negative, very difficult, sin-filled world, much the same way that Jeremiah did. And so when we have challenges seeing the positive side of things, maybe Jeremiah is one of those Bible characters that we can begin to look at and take heart in because he lived in some of the most difficult, some of the most tumultuous times in the history of Judah. It's interesting if you look into his life a little bit. He began to see the time frame that he lived in. There was this evil King Manasseh whose reign had come to an end, and he had undermined Israel. He had undermined Judah to turn away from God's way of life and was worse after him. There was a guy that came after him as king. His name was Ammon. And Ammon was a terrible king, maybe one of the worst kings ever. That was all what was happening right before Jeremiah's birth. And yet something interesting happened after Ammon died.

If you know your history, you'll remember who took over after Ammon. He was a young guy. You might even call him a boy. I hear some of you whispering his name. The boy king, Josiah, took over. And suddenly the future seemed to begin to change just a little bit. He reformed things. He reformed the temple. He tore down the idols. He did amazing things to try to bring back his people to a godly way of worship. And that was the kind of world that Jeremiah first came into. If you want to write down 2 Chronicles 34, that's where that story is all patterned out. Now the reason I bring that up is because it is a reflection on where we are even today, in this world today. Because, you know, Josiah didn't last for long. This boy king died before he was even 40 years old. And Jeremiah was faced with that kind of a world once again. A world that was turning away from God to a country that lost its identity, that could not stay worshiping the true God. And so it's interesting to think of that world that he was called to, and God gave him a specific job. So let's begin by looking at the beginning of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah chapter 1, we're going to set the tone for the sermon this morning and look at Jeremiah's calling. Let's notice Jeremiah's calling now that we have an understanding of what kind of world he was born into. Let's notice Jeremiah as God begins to work with him.

Jeremiah 1, verse 4. Here's what the New Century version says in verse 4. It might be just a little bit different than your new King James. It says, the word of the Lord came to me saying, came to Jeremiah. So what does God say to Jeremiah as things get going in Jeremiah's life? He says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. So God knows Jeremiah has an important calling. There's an important job for Jeremiah even before he was born. God says, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. So God had a specific job for Jeremiah. What if God said that to you? What would your reaction be if it was so concrete, so specific, that you knew God was talking to you? You knew God was calling you and giving you a job. He was telling you what he had in store for you to either choose to do or choose not to do. What would your response be if you were absolutely, undoubtedly convinced that the God of all was calling you, was talking to you, was giving you direction? Well, let's notice what Jeremiah's reaction was. So God says, I've appointed you, I've consecrated you. Verse 6, Jeremiah's response, Oh, Lord God, truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy. I'm only a boy. Jeremiah's reaction to the one true God who was speaking directly to him, that he was undoubtedly convinced this was the Creator God talking to him. He says, you know, I'm just a kid. That's too much. I can't do all that. I'm too young. And so he tries to use this very weak argument. Probably about this time Jeremiah's maybe 18, 20 years old. Yeah, he's on the young side of things. But, you know, according to the cultural standards of the day, he by no means a little boy, not at all. In the King James, I think it says, I'm only a youth, but he's trying to imply I'm just a little kid. Just a little kid.

But that's a pretty bad argument, first of all, because you know God's talking to you. Second of all, he's born during this time that God was powerfully using this boy, this younger boy, to be king over Israel. All of Judah, Josiah, was king. And yet, Jeremiah still says, I'm kind of young, aren't I? And so as God's using this boy king, here comes along what God seems to intend, I guess we could say, a boy prophet. A boy prophet. And yet, should he have had that kind of a response? I am only a boy. I wonder sometimes if we use that logic with God. Have you ever said that? You ever thought that when it comes to your relationship with God? Well, God, I'm only... You fill in the blank. What do you think God thought about that response? Well, he tells us. Verse 7, the Lord said to me, says to Jeremiah, don't say I'm only a boy. I don't want to hear that. He says, for you shall go to all to whom I send you and you shall speak whatever I command you. So God says, it's not open for discussion.

Don't give me that excuse, He says, because I'm going to tell you what you're going to do. Now, that could sound kind of threatening. Uh-oh, He's going to make me do that. He's going to force me to do that, just like we parents would like to force our children to do certain things. That's easy to do when they're little and tiny, but boy, they get to be teenagers. Pretty tough to make them do anything. But here's God, almost sounding like He's going to make him do that. But you know, God's not going to give us a job without the power and the authority and the ability to do it. God's not going to do that. Notice verse 8. He says, don't be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. God was going to give him every tool he needed to accomplish the job God had in mind for him. So the Lord, it says, put out his hand, touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, now I've put my words in your mouth. See, today, I appoint you over nations, over kingdoms, to pluck up, to pull down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build, and to plant. So He gave them a commission and prophetically a powerful commission to do amazing things. And God was going to be with him. God gave him a mandate to do these things. And amazing things would happen because God was in charge and Jeremiah submitted to God's will.

So Jeremiah kind of ended up where he didn't expect to be, didn't he? Didn't expect to be there, didn't necessarily want to be there. And you know, sometimes I think that's the case with you and I, isn't it? How many of you are at a place in life where you really didn't expect or plan to be at?

Probably a lot of us. A lot of us. And maybe in some ways we're like Jeremiah. God has given us this amazing calling. And our response is, well, why did you call me God? You ever wonder that? Why did God call me? Why did you call me God? Why now? Why not some other time? Sure, maybe that ran through Jeremiah's mind. God, there's so many others that could do this. They're already great orators. They know how to speak. They know how to confront people. They know how to deal with issues like this. But God said, I want you. Not too much unlike the way He works with us. I mean, think about these amazing circumstances that we find in the Bible. The Bible is just full of the most incredible, the powerful demonstrations, incredible astounding things of the way that God works, how God involves Himself in human beings' lives. And maybe one of the most astounding, maybe the most amazing. Oh, think about that. What is the most amazing thing that God has done?

Maybe the parting of the Red Sea comes to mind. Maybe just creating all these remarkable galaxies around us. Is it creation? Is it turning water in the wine?

What is the most remarkable thing that God has done? I think He hints at it here with Jeremiah.

God has a plan for us. Isn't that more amazing than just water into wine? Isn't that more amazing than Noah's flood or the parting of the Reds? That God has something in mind for you and me. He's got a plan. What is that plan for us? I mean, it's an amazing calling that we have, that we have an amazing God who created this awesome galaxy of hundreds of billions of stars, created a Milky Way that it takes light 100,000 years just to go from one end to the other. And yet, He's called us for a very important purpose, an amazing plan for us. Now, that might be something that sounds a little overwhelming. You know, okay, Jeremiah and these Bible guys, I could see them doing that. But me? Why did God call me? Sometimes we feel a little overwhelmed with that calling. We have that difficult time of getting the question, why did God call me? It's tough to get it out of our mind because I'm nothing. And we have that sense of being a little bit out of our league. But God uses all kinds of people and situations that maybe surprise us sometimes. Remember, even Christ had need of a donkey at one time, didn't He? Not that I'm necessarily comparing us to donkeys, but He rode into Jerusalem on a beast of burden just before the crucifixion. Can you imagine that happening today? What would the the Queen of England arrive on a donkey? It wouldn't go over so well. Or the President of the United States may be arriving in a 1985 Ford Escort. Not going to happen, right? Air conditioning doesn't work, the sides are beaded, no radio. No, it's not going to happen. God can do amazing things with the most humble of circumstances. You may have heard about the guy that bought a donkey from an old farmer. Paid a hundred bucks for the donkey. The farmer agrees to deliver that donkey to him. Next day, the guy goes to receive that donkey from the farmer. The farmer comes up to him and says, I got some bad news. He said, the donkey died last night.

And the man said, okay, well just give me my money back. The farmer said, I've already spent it. I can't do that. And so the man says, okay, fine, just unload the donkey. So he unloads the donkey and the farmer says, what are you going to do? The guy says, I'm going to raffle him off. The farmer says, you can't raffle a dead donkey. And he says, well, let me tell you, that's exactly what I'm going to do. In fact, you're going to see just how smart I really am. So sure enough, the guy starts selling raffle tickets for this. He doesn't advertise a dead donkey. He just advertises a donkey. And so about a month after that, the farmer happened to run into him and said, so whatever happened with your dead donkey? He said, I raffled that thing off. I sold 500 tickets for $2 apiece and I made $998. The farmer said, well, how did you keep from getting thrown in jail, you know, for a big scam? He said, there was just one guy that complained, the guy that won. So I gave him his $2 back. So you can do amazing things, and you can do even more amazing things when God's on your side. I mean, think of what God has for you. Now you might say, well, I'm not Jeremiah. I'm only a housewife. I'm only a student. I'm old. I can't do these things. But here we see in the story of Jeremiah, as he tries to ignore God's call, feeling overwhelmed with the sense of what God had in mind for him, he could see his deficiencies. He could see his flaws. He could see, what, his disabilities? And so many times it seems that that's where our mindset is at. That we need to have this perspective that Jeremiah came to see. Because as we look at Jeremiah, Jeremiah could not imagine God needing him. Why me? I'm only a boy. I'm just a novice. I'm just a kid.

And so it seems like a strange concept, especially to Jeremiah, that God needs anybody or wants anybody. Or if it is, if God really does want anybody, he must want the very best. Ever thought that? Was that true, though? Is that true? Are there times that we make excuses to God because we don't see all the details. We can't quite understand his plan fully, that we feel overwhelmed with the task at hand. Sometimes we do make excuses. I was inspired by excuses this week as we started our ABC class. I ran across something that somebody sent me about excuses that parents have written to their teachers on their kids' behalf. Maybe you've heard a couple of these. One of the parents wrote to the teacher, she wrote, teacher, please excuse Mary for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot. Thanks. Another one, my son's under doctor's care and should not take physical education today. Please execute him. Yeah, sometimes parents feel like that, I think. Another one, please excuse my son's tardiness. I forgot to wake him up this morning and didn't find him until I started making the beds. That sounds like a good way to go. Then there was another one, please excuse Ray from school. He has very loose vowels.

Then another one, please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father's fault.

Talk about excuses. What kind of excuses do we use? Remember Jeremiah's excuse, I'm only a boy. Jeremiah wasn't alone because oftentimes we think of these biblical characters. They're just stalwart representation of everything that's good, everything that's right. They would never fear, they would never doubt, there would never be an instant where they'd have a little bit of insecurity because after all, they're in the Bible and God used them in powerful ways. Sometimes we have a disconnect between our lives and these biblical characters, these biblical heroes, these awesome men and women of old who never faced any of the challenges that we face. Yet more often than not, there was a Jeremiah mindset for many of them. Take Isaiah, for example. Isaiah was odd in the presence of God. If you want to flip over there in Isaiah 6, as Isaiah is beginning to be worked with by God, Isaiah 6, God shows him some amazing things. They talked about the amazing universe that we have, the solar system that we live in. Here, God was showing him all kinds of things. He had angels that were attending him, and they showed him amazing, wonderful things. And so, we see what Jeremiah's perspective is, right at the very beginning of chapter 6. He said, he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. So, he has this vision of God on his throne. He sees angels. Seraphs were in attendance. So, he sees the amazing throne room of God.

What's his perspective after he sees God in this vision? Well, verse 5. He says, "'Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'" You see, his reaction to the power and awesomeness of God was to see how unworthy he was. I'm not holy enough. I'm not righteous enough. I'm just a man. I'm just a man. And so, Isaiah had those same feelings that Jeremiah had.

I think we can identify with that a little bit. How about Moses, the man of God, the one who led millions of people out from Pharaoh? Do you remember his first reaction to God's assignment? Go over to Exodus 3. What was Moses' reaction to God?

God tells him in chapter 3, verse 10 of Exodus, "'Come, I'll send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.'" Here's your assignment. Sounds a little similar to Jeremiah. What did Moses say? Verse 11, Exodus 3, "'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'" Chapter 4, verse 1, Moses answered, suppose they don't believe me, they don't listen to me. They'll say, ah, the Lord couldn't appear to you. Verse 10, Moses said to the Lord, "'O my Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither in the past or even now that You've spoken to Your servant, but I'm slow of speech, slow of tongue.' And the Lord said to them, who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? He says, Go, I'll be with you." And Moses said, all right, let's go. No, he didn't say that. Verse 13, "'O Lord, please send'" Probably didn't say it like that. Have you envisioned how Moses would have said this? Probably more like, oh, my Lord, please send someone else.

It's probably how he said it, something more like that, because he was stammering. He was stuttering. He couldn't speak. He was, in fact, I probably said that too fast. He says, he's slow of tongue. Couldn't get out the words. Was he the best and the brightest? God only uses the best. And what was his reaction to God calling him? Well, we see that God had to show him with the real power behind him. Verse 15, "'You shall speak to him, to Pharaoh, put the words in his mouth. I'll be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I'll teach you what you shall do.'" So he's talking about Aaron will be a spokesperson for him. So God's not letting him have any excuses, is he? God's got a job for him to do. God has a job for us to do. And all too often we say, I'm only too old. Abraham, too old. Jacob, a liar. Remember what Jacob was like? Leah, homely. Right? Joseph came from an abusive family. His family was dysfunctional, wasn't it? Your brothers beat you up and throw you in the bottom of a well. I'd say that's pretty dysfunctional. He came from a dysfunctional family. Gideon was afraid. Elijah was depressed.

You see, these people had problems like we do.

Little Zacchaeus, he's too short. Remember him? He's just a wee little man. Timothy's a little kid. You start to come up with all the excuses in your life. Here's a tough one.

Lazarus. He was dead. So what's your excuse? He was dead, and God could still resurrect him and use him and expect him to respond to God's calling. And so God looks down at us, and He's handpicked us. He wants us to be a part of His way. And we may think, we're not strong enough, we're not capable enough, but just like all of these individuals, God worked with them, and God worked through them in spite of their shortcomings, in spite of their challenges, in spite of the difficulties that life brought them. And maybe it's true that the three worst words in the English language are, I'm only...

You see, when it comes to God's way, we're not only. We're not only. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 reminds us of that fact. Go over to 1 Corinthians, right away in the beginning of his letter to Corinth. The apostle Paul spells it out. He spells it out. Verse 24 talks about God's amazing calling, God's job that He's given to us as well as included in this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 24, it says, "...but to those called by God to salvation." This is what the New Living says. It might be just a little bit different than your version. "...those called by God to salvation." Both Jews and Gentiles. We'd have a hard time getting out of that little bit of a reference there. We'd fit into one of those categories, one or the other. We are either Jewish descent or not. That's what he's saying here. To those called, what about it? What about those that are called? To those that are called, Christ is the power.

Does it depend on how smart I am? Does it depend on how wonderfully I reason? Not at all. Does it count on how talented I am? How gifted I am? No, it doesn't. It counts on Christ. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 25, he goes, "...because the foolishness of God is wiser than man." One of the translations says, this foolish plan of God is wiser than any human plans. God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strengths. God's stronger than man. Verse 26, remember, brethren, know your calling. He says, remember, few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. God didn't call many of that type. And you know if you think you are, think you're wise, think you're pretty smart? Doesn't he put us in our place here?

You see, part of what's happening here is Paul setting up Corinth because they were gifted. They were talented. They could do all kinds of things by their own human power. But did any of that measure up to the power and stature of God? He's telling them right here, no, nothing by our own means measures up. And so he tells them very clearly, see where your power, see where your guidance comes from. If we have that sense that I'm only, we're missing our calling. Because he tells us where that power, where our strength comes from. It doesn't come from ourselves. It comes through God the Father and through Jesus Christ. In fact, just over a few pages, if you look over to 1 Corinthians 2, look at chapter 2, verse 9. He continues with this thought. He says, we are God's fellow workers. You are God's...oh, I'm over too far. Chapter 2, not chapter 3, chapter 2, verse 9. It's written, I has not seen, ear heard, nor entered in the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. We've got a quotation from Isaiah. But, verse 10, he goes on, God has revealed them to us by our goodness, by our greatness, no, through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

He tells us we can fulfill that calling. We can do the job God calls us to. How? Verse 12, he says, we've received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who's from God. We've been given the power of God in our life. That negates these words, I'm only. I'm only. You see, the feelings of inferiority, the feelings of inadequacy, the feelings of underrating yourself. God says, by my Spirit, you can accomplish what I've called you to do.

I remember when we were in Pasadena, they always had the Tournament of Roses Parade. One year, going back a long, long time ago, during the Rose Parade, one of the floats kind of started jerking a little bit and was sputtering along. And pretty soon, came to a halt. Just stopped right there in the middle of the street. The rest of the parade is all backing up. And it was terrible. So what they found out about the float is that underneath this float was a vehicle, and it was built all around this thing. And the vehicle ran out of gas.

Ran out of gas. So somebody had to run the gas can to fill up the float so the parade could get moving. Now the funny part is the float was a float for, at that time, Standard Oil.

Standard Oil. And so the float that represented all the power of gasoline ran out. So imagine that. Here you'd think it would have everything it would ever need.

And I think what we've got to remember, we've got a whole lot more behind us than some petroleum company, right? We've got the power of God behind us. The power of the universe, the ultimate source of power, is behind us. So can we accomplish what God has in store for us? Because it's not by our own strength. We know Zechariah 4, verse 6. It says, Not by might nor by power, not by my own means, that's what Zechariah 4, 6 is saying, but by my spirit, says the Lord.

You see, human means doesn't amount to much. But with God, He's given us a way to deal with those thoughts that haunt us sometimes, like Jeremiah, like an Isaiah, like a Moses. Why don't things work out? And sometimes when they don't work out, we do get discouraged, and we feel like we're a failure. We question, well, why did God call me? And we have those doubts. We doubt ourselves. We doubt our abilities. How many of us constantly think, I just can't do it. I just can't do it. Sometimes we hide those feelings by acting superior. Sometimes we hide that inferiority by being arrogant. Maybe when we're threatened or we're challenged, or we just get mad when things don't go our way.

So there's sometimes a lot of reasons why we get in that kind of a mindset. Sometimes it's what we've dealt with our whole life. Sometimes we've been criticized our entire life. Sometimes we've never gotten much approval from our family or our friends. I remember one time someone told me that they were unwanted, that their parents didn't want them. They didn't want them. They didn't say that it was a surprise. They actually told their children, that child, that he was an accident.

Imagine growing up in that kind of a frame of mind. You could see why you'd feel like, why did God call me? Why is this the way that it is? That's the way some people grow up. And it's a challenging situation. So yeah, there are reasons that we feel the way that we do. But does God tell us that that's an excuse? Maybe we've never experienced much love in our life. Those kinds of things are real.

There is no doubt that there are challenging circumstances in life that can lead us to feel like we don't quite belong or we don't measure up. But if we allow those feelings to control us, if we allow those feelings to set the tone for our life, God's telling us here that we're going to not be able to achieve the things that God wants in life for us. The gifts that God wants to give us, the goals that God has in mind for us.

If we stay in that frame of mind, like a Jeremiah could have or a Moses could have, we couldn't fulfill the calling that God's given us. So I think one of the things we've got to always keep in mind is don't let that take a permanent place in your thinking, that I don't quite measure up.

I'm not good enough. I am only. I can't allow that kind of thinking because we get to think of where does your value come from. Does it come from how good we are? From our physical capabilities? It has nothing to do with the value that God's placed on us. You know, if God put a barcode on you, put a price tag on you, is that somehow more valuable if we do something or less valuable? I mean, God sees value in us now. That's not going to change. We're not going to go on sale. We're not going to go on sale. God gives us value, and He's given us a job to do. From the example of Jeremiah, I think we realize a couple of amazing things.

When God gives us a job, when God calls us, He gives us the ability to finish that job. He even tells us at the beginning of Philippians that He started something good in us, and He says, good luck, you're on your own.

Look it up in that first chapter of Philippians. It tells us He will complete it. God in us will complete it. So He's going to provide the encouragement. He's going to provide the help. He's going to provide the means so that we can overcome, so that we can persevere, so we don't have to be stuck in this frame of mind, that I can never measure up, that I just can't make it, that I'm just not good enough, that somehow I'm inadequate.

God says, no, you're not. With me, we can get rid of these feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. But we've got to do it. We've got to take what God has given us and respond in a spiritual way. If you want to flip back to Jeremiah just for a moment, it's interesting what He encourages him to do right there at the very beginning. Back to Jeremiah chapter 1. After telling Jeremiah what plans he has in store for him, that he's going to go up and he's going to talk to kings and princes and priests, that there's going to be this pulling down and destroying and then building and planting.

And Jeremiah said, wait a second, I'm not sure I can do all these things. And then God says, yes, you can. With me, this is possible. We get down to verse 17 and notice what God says to him.

All right, because I have a job for you, because I'm going to be with you, He says, therefore, prepare yourself and arise. Speak all that I command you. Jeremiah had a part to play in these things. He could have wallowed in this self-pity of, I'm just a kid, I can't do it. But God says to him, and He says to you and I, I am with you. I don't call people to fail. I don't call people to fall short. So get up and let's get going. Prepare yourself. That's what the Apostle Paul had to do as well, didn't he? He was so out of whack, he was fighting against the church and against God Himself. When God knocked him down and said, get up, prepare yourself. I have a job for you to do. God's called us in a very similar way. If you go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, let's finish that thought there about our calling. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we know that God hasn't called too many mighty, not too many noble, but He's called you and I. And we see the Apostle Paul realizing where the power and the ability comes from. How can we complete this task to the end of our life without being totally discouraged, without feeling inferior or inadequate? Well, Paul deals with that. Look at verse 27. It says, God's chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. He's chosen the weak to put the shame, the things that are mighty. He's chosen the base things of the world, the things which are despised. God's chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are.

Why does he do all of this? He says, so no flesh should glory in His presence.

You see, part of the lesson in all of this is to remind us it's not by my goodness, it's not by my ability, it's not by my great talents or skills or gifts, but he says, by me. By me. No flesh should glory in His presence. We're saying that a little bit differently in verse 30. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus. You think you're smart? He says, He became wisdom from God. It says, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Verse 31, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So you could be sitting there saying, hey, I don't feel inferior. I actually feel pretty good about myself.

We also have a problem on that end of the spectrum, don't we?

Because it still comes back to verse 30 and verse 31. If we feel inferior, we feel inadequate. If we follow after God, we strive after His way, we are in Christ. And as we repent, we become close to God, and we develop our relationship, He says, He becomes wisdom for us. And not only that, He says, righteousness. I fall short, but through Jesus Christ, God sees me as righteous. He sets me apart. He's called me. I am sanctified. I am set apart by God, and I can be redeemed. I can be bought back, had my sins paid for, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So when I'm feeling inadequate, can I feel more than competent of my Savior Jesus Christ? Can I feel more than adequate? Not because of me, but because of what God's done through our Savior Jesus Christ? No wonder He says, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. We can glory in God's great plan, because Christ is in us and working through us and giving us a means to overcome this concept of, I am only. And we can do that through this means that Paul is talking about. And that means is exhibiting faith.

We want to overcome inferiority, exhibit faith. That's what Jeremiah did, didn't he? He came to believe what God says. And sometimes faith is this ethereal thing that we can't quite put our handle on. But it's not that difficult. We believe in God, don't we? In fact, most Americans surveys say they believe in God. The problem is sometimes we don't believe God. We believe in Him, but we don't believe Him. We don't believe what He says. He told Jeremiah, believe me. A different way to say it, have faith in me. Trust me because your own skills, your own abilities, yeah, you're right. They are pretty useless. But through me, if you have faith in me, you don't have to be afraid. We can choose faith over inferiority. We can have faith, which means confidence in God. Faith means trust in God. Having a conviction that what God says He's going to do. And if God said it, I believe it. Not because I'm so smart and brilliant, but because God is. Because God is. So like Jeremiah, I can choose to stand up for God's way in my life. I can have the trust and faith that He's going to do what He says He's going to do. God, if you called me, I have the trust and the confidence that you're going to see me through this. That you're going to help me when I am feeling down, when I am feeling discouraged. You're going to direct my life and have the confidence and the faith that you'll do that. And wherever you send me, I'm going to go there in faith, in trust, in conviction, because it's not about me. It's about you in my life. And so when we feel inadequate, and we all do, everyone does from time to time. It happens to the best of us, doesn't it? But when those thoughts come, maybe when that discouragement comes, when that challenge comes, when that trial comes, when the difficulties are right there before our eyes, let's allow those feelings and those circumstances to drive us toward greater dependence on God. That's what happened to Jeremiah.

Those inadequacies pushed him closer to God. That's what happened with Moses and Isaiah and Paul and every one of those great characters of the Bible. That's what did it. So when we choose to believe, to trust, or you could say to have faith, choose to have faith in the promises of God, recognize him as the source. Let's realize we can trust him because he's going to make us adequate. He's going to give us, in fact, more than adequate. Doesn't Paul tell us we are more than conquerors through him who loved us? We are more than just getting by. We can overcome the inadequacy through our great God. And in fact, hopefully we can come to the perspective that Jeremiah had. In fact, Jeremiah was reminded of it many times every day. It was by his name. His name was a reminder of who he was. Jeremiah means God exalts. Not I exalt. Not that I can do it. But God's going to take care of it. God's going to fill that need. We know that God chose the weak, but through him, we're not there anymore. We are not weak anymore. And like Jeremiah, we have an amazing spiritual calling. And it might lead where we don't expect, maybe in where we don't even want. But we know that God is always with us. And because of his promises, he says that no matter what, I'm always with you, no matter the circumstances. So let's resolve never to think I'm only.