July 11, 2026 - Jeremiah 1-4

Jeremiah:  one of my favorites.  For so many reasons, but probably more than any other, are the many peeks into his life, his emotions, his anxieties, and his struggles.  For 40 years a preacher of judgment and the end of Jerusalem, this young man constantly needed encouragement and direction from the God who sent him.  Early on in his ministry, the Lord gave him a vision of an almond branch (1:11,12).  I have read that the almond tree is among the earliest that produce buds in the spring.  The Lord seems to be saying to Jeremiah, “As the almond tree is quick to produce fruit, so I will be quick to perform my words that I speak through you.”  I don’t know that I’ve ever needed a lot of coddling and constant affirmation and assurances but, as is probably the case with all of us, I do sometimes struggle to know how God might be leading me.  It’s good to know that God will accomplish his purposes in our lives even when we’re uncertain what exactly he is doing.  With Jeremiah, though, may the words of Mary Brown’s hymn always be our response to God.

It may not be on the mountain’s height

Or over the stormy sea,

It may not be at the battle’s front

My Lord will have need of me;

But if by a still, small voice He calls

To paths I do not know,

I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Thine,

I’ll go where You want me to go.

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord,

O'er mountain or plain or sea;

I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord,

I’ll be what You want me to be.   –Mary Brown (1891)