Paragon Church

Monday, March 9, 2015

Day 17 - Speaking Up

Jeremiah 1:6-7 (ESV) -  Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

It was a very troubled time. Working conditions were horrible. People’s lives were so desperate that, for entertainment, they flocked to public executions, the public dissection of dead criminals, and bloody animal spectacles. One-fourth of the women in London were prostitutes. Worst of all, people were learning of the horrific conditions on the slave ships where bodies were stacked together. One captain threw live slaves overboard in order to collect insurance money.

One member of parliament, William Wilberforce, decided to speak up. He made it his life goal to reform social behavior and to abolish the slave trade. He made his decision, and began to speak up—at 27 years of age.

Six centuries before Christ, God called a young man named Jeremiah to speak prophetically into the troubled times in which he lived. It was a chaotic era— politically, socially, morally, and spiritually. The kings made unholy alliances with foreign powers and borrowed their gods, ruining the faith of the people.

The call that came to 20-something Jeremiah was not merely difficult, it was life-threatening. How can a prophet speak up to the powers of the day and not be crushed by them? The mournful tone of much of Jeremiah’s prophesy shows the price he did pay, but he could hold onto God’s promise at the start: “Do not be afraid... I am with you and will rescue you.”

Today’s world is as troubling as the era of Jeremiah. Yet Scripture says that God calls many people to speak truth into troubled times. In some parts of the world this is life-threatening. In other parts the risk is merely receiving disdain or prejudice.

We also have this problem: Some believers naively think that if enough people shout loud enough that unrighteousness will somehow be shoved out of society, while other believers doubt whether speaking the truth can make any difference at all. What Jeremiah did, and Wilberforce later did, was to set a course to speak truth—faithfully, precisely, tirelessly—for decades, for a lifetime. They assumed no quick outcome, but redemption did finally come.

PONDER:  What issue in society today is something that God may be calling you to speak up about, and where? 

REFLECTION or DISCUSSION
God called Jeremiah to speak truth to a stubborn and broken world. In Jeremiah 1, God is laying out his call for Jeremiah. Jeremiah is afraid and claims that he is too young to do the things God is asking. God responds by telling Jeremiah that youth is not an excuse.

Read God’s response to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:7-8 and read 1 Timothy 4:12. What do both of these verses say about being young? What things might God be asking you to do, even though you are young (or whatever excuse you might use)?

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