Womb Consecration

When Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, he tried to bail out using the "I am only a boy" card.  Obviously, he was familiar with the Moses story, but before he got as deep into the reasons the calling would not work, the Lord put a stop to it.  Jeremiah wrote about the moment of calling with the words, "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."  (Jeremiah 1:4-5)  It was a big enough call to make any sensible man run and Jeremiah, according to his words, was only a boy.      

While it may not have been so alarming to hear that the Lord knew him in the womb, it was surely a jolt to hear that he had been consecrated by the Lord for holy work before he was born.  At first glance it would seem that Jeremiah had no choice, but what we know from experience and reason, is that there is always a choice.  No matter what the Lord intends for us, or desires for us, the option of choosing, or not choosing is always in our hands.     

The thing Jeremiah heard was that the Lord had his eye on him.  His intentions for the unborn Jeremiah involved moving His plan toward completion.  It may sound like such an amazing thing, but as we think about it, we begin to realize that each one of us has been brought forth from the womb for just such a purpose.  We were not created by a purposeful Creator to live a life full of randomness, but a life full of purpose.  Before our birth we, too, were set apart to be involved in what God seeks to do in the world and like Jeremiah and everyone else, the choosing is up to us.