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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 9 July 2026:
Here is a short video overview of The Book of Jeremiah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSK36cHbrk0
Jeremiah 1:4-5 — 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’s ministry begins not with his decision to serve God but with God’s sovereign purpose for his life. Before Jeremiah could know God, God knew him; before Jeremiah could offer himself to God, God had set him apart for His purposes. Jeremiah’s calling was unique, but the principle extends to every believer: our lives do not begin with our plans for ourselves, or even our plans to serve God, but with the purposes of the God who created us. David confessed that all his days were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:13-16), and Paul declared that believers are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God (not us) prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). This truth should produce both humility and confidence. We have no reason for pride because whatever usefulness we have begins with God’s grace, and we have no reason to believe our lives are insignificant because the God who formed us has purposes for us within His kingdom.
Jeremiah’s consecration also points beyond him to Jesus Christ, the One sent by the Father before the foundation of the world and revealed at the appointed time for our salvation (1 Peter 1:20). Jeremiah was appointed a prophet to the nations, but Jesus is the eternal Word who perfectly reveals the Father and brings salvation to people from every nation (John 1:14, 18; Revelation 7:9-10). In Christ, believers are brought into God’s purposes and called to live as those chosen and set apart for Him. Union with Christ means that our identity, calling, and fruitfulness are no longer defined primarily by our abilities, ambitions, failures, or circumstances, but by belonging to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Do I live as though my life belongs to God and exists for His purposes, or am I still asking God to bless the life I have planned for myself? Do I really want to exchange the life I can imagine with the life the Almighty Creator of All Things, Perfect Abba Father intends for me? Shall I trust myself, someone else, or Him? Have you ever meditated on the foolishness of fear and pride as a child of God?
Jeremiah 1:6-8 — 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. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.
Jeremiah responds to God’s call by looking immediately at himself and seeing inadequacy. He is young, inexperienced, and unable to imagine himself standing before kings, priests, and an increasingly rebellious nation. His assessment of his weakness was not necessarily wrong; his mistake was treating his weakness as though it limited God. The Lord does not answer Jeremiah by building his self-confidence or assuring him that he possesses hidden abilities. Instead, God directs Jeremiah away from himself: I send you, I command you, I am with you, and I will deliver you. Jeremiah’s sufficiency would never be found in Jeremiah but in the God who called, sent, spoke through, and remained with him.
This pattern appears repeatedly throughout Scripture. Moses saw his inability to speak and asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:11; 4:10). Gideon saw the weakness of his clan and his own insignificance, asking how he could possibly save Israel (Judges 6:15-16). Saul hid among the baggage when called to be king, and Isaiah cried, “Woe is me!” when confronted with the holiness of God (1 Samuel 10:22; Isaiah 6:5-8). In each case, the answer was not greater confidence in human ability but greater confidence in God. Again and again, God calls people beyond what they can accomplish in their own strength so that His power, faithfulness, and glory will be revealed through their dependence upon Him. As Paul later explained, God places His treasure in jars of clay so that the surpassing power may clearly belong to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Our struggle with self-reliance runs much deeper than we usually recognize because it lies near the heart of humanity’s rebellion against God. Adam and Eve reached for the forbidden fruit because they did not trust God to determine what was good, provide what they needed, or protect their best interests (Genesis 3:1-6). We continue to sin for much the same reason. We become convinced that we must secure for ourselves what we do not trust God to provide: safety, satisfaction, significance, justice, acceptance, pleasure, or control. Anxiety grows when we believe everything depends upon our ability to understand and manage circumstances. Bitterness takes root when we do not trust God with justice. Ingratitude complains that His provision is insufficient, envy and jealousy assume that He has given someone else what we need to be satisfied, and sinful compromise promises to obtain through our own efforts what we fear obedience to God will cost us. Beneath these different sins is the same question whispered in Eden: Can God really be trusted to love me, provide for me, and do what I cannot do for myself? The answer of the Gospel is Jesus Christ. The Father who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us has given us the decisive evidence that His wisdom, sovereignty, and love can be trusted (Romans 8:31-32). Freedom from self-reliance therefore comes not merely by trying harder to trust God but by knowing Him more deeply, abiding in Christ, remembering His character and promises, and increasingly living in confident dependence upon the One who is both willing and able to accomplish His good purposes in us.
The Gospel frees us from both self-confidence and self-defeating insecurity because both keep our attention centered on ourselves. Jesus told His disciples that apart from Him they could do nothing, but those who abide in Him bear much fruit (John 15:4-5). Paul learned the same truth when Christ told him, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Union with Christ means we do not serve God merely by trying harder to overcome our limitations; Christ lives in us, His Spirit empowers us, and His presence becomes our confidence. Courage is not the absence of weakness or fear but obedience rooted in the conviction that the One who sends us goes with us. Where am I using weakness, age, inexperience, fear, or inadequacy as an excuse to avoid something God has clearly commanded me to do?
Jeremiah 1:9-10 — Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Jeremiah could not fulfill God’s calling with his own wisdom or words. The Lord Himself supplied the message: I have put my words in your mouth. Jeremiah’s authority did not come from eloquence, position, personality, or popular approval, but from faithfully speaking what God had spoken. God’s Word carries God’s authority and accomplishes God’s purposes. As Isaiah declared, the Word that goes out from God’s mouth will not return empty but will accomplish what He purposes (Isaiah 55:10-11). Jeremiah would announce the uprooting and destruction of kingdoms, but also God’s work of building and planting. Judgment would not be God’s final purpose. He tears down what sin has corrupted in order to establish what accords with His holiness and purposes.
This pattern reaches its fulfillment in Christ. Jesus came announcing both judgment and salvation, calling sinners to repent and believe the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15). At the cross, God exposed and condemned sin while accomplishing the salvation of sinners. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, the old life under sin’s dominion is put to death and a new creation begins (Romans 6:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:17). God continues this work in those united with Christ, exposing idols, uprooting sinful desires, tearing down false identities, and replacing them with the character of His Son. We often want God to build the new life without removing the sins, loyalties, habits, and ambitions that compete with Christ, but sanctification requires both uprooting and planting. What am I asking God to improve that He may actually be calling me to surrender, remove, or put to death? Am I merely seek that God change my circumstances or that I receive the growth He intends for me in them? Am I praying for comfort over Christlikeness? There is no growth in the comfort zone, and there is no comfort in the growth zone.
Jeremiah 1:11-12 — And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see an almond branch. Then the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.
The almond tree was among the first trees to awaken and blossom after winter, making it an appropriate sign of God’s watchfulness over His Word. Jeremiah would spend decades preaching to people who refused to listen. Kings would resist him, priests would oppose him, false prophets would contradict him, and circumstances would often make it appear that his ministry had accomplished little. God therefore established at the beginning what Jeremiah would need to remember throughout his life: the fulfillment of God’s Word does not depend upon the visible success of God’s servant. God Himself watches over His Word to perform it.
This is a necessary truth for every believer who seeks to live faithfully in a world where obedience may appear ineffective and compromise may appear successful. Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not pass away (Matthew 24:35). God has exalted the risen Christ, is gathering a people to Himself through the Gospel, is conforming those people to the image of His Son, and will bring all things under Christ’s rule (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:9-10). Our responsibility is not to manufacture results but to abide in Christ, obey His Word, and trust God with the outcome. Faithfulness may require years of obedience before we see fruit, and some fruit may remain hidden from us entirely, but God’s purposes never depend upon our ability to produce visible success. Have I become discouraged, impatient, or willing to compromise because God has not produced the results I expected on my timetable?
Jeremiah 1:13-16 — The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north. Then the LORD said to me, Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land…. And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.
The boiling pot pictures the judgment that would soon pour out upon Judah through invading armies from the north. Yet God makes clear that the deepest problem was not military weakness, poor leadership, or unfortunate circumstances. Judah had forsaken Him, given its worship to other gods, and bowed before the works of its own hands. The coming disaster was the righteous judgment of a holy God against persistent rebellion. Idolatry is fundamentally an exchange of the Creator for created things, giving our love, trust, obedience, and worship to something other than God (Romans 1:21-25). Modern idols may not be carved from wood or stone, but anything we depend upon for identity, security, satisfaction, significance, or control can become the work of our hands before which we bow.
The Gospel reveals both the seriousness of our idolatry and the greatness of God’s mercy. We deserve judgment for exchanging God’s glory for created things, yet Christ bore the judgment of God against sin so that those who repent and trust in Him might be reconciled to God (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). Salvation does not merely rescue us from punishment; it restores us to the God we were created to know, love, worship, and enjoy. United with Christ, we are progressively freed from slavery to lesser loves and transformed into His likeness as we behold His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). What created thing am I tempted to trust, fear, pursue, or love more than God, and what does that reveal about the condition of my heart?
Jeremiah 1:17-19 — But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls…. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.
God does not promise Jeremiah an easy ministry, widespread acceptance, or visible success. He tells him plainly that people will fight against him. Jeremiah must arise, speak everything God commands, and refuse to allow fear of people to silence or reshape the message. Partial obedience would be disobedience, and fear of man would become a snare if Jeremiah allowed the reactions of others to become more important than faithfulness to God (Proverbs 29:25). Yet God does not send Jeremiah into opposition alone. The command to stand firm is grounded in the promise, I am with you. Jeremiah would endure because God would sustain him.
Jeremiah’s rejection and suffering also anticipate Christ, the perfectly faithful Prophet who spoke everything the Father gave Him to say and was opposed, rejected, and condemned by the people He came to save (John 8:28-29; 15:18-20). Unlike Jeremiah, Jesus was not merely delivered from His enemies; He willingly surrendered Himself to death for them. At the cross, His enemies appeared to prevail, yet through His death He defeated sin and death, rose victorious, and now shares His life with all who belong to Him. Because believers are united with Christ, His presence is our strength and His victory defines our future. Jesus never promised that obedience would eliminate opposition; He promised, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
Christlike faithfulness means obeying God when obedience is costly, speaking truth with love when truth is unpopular, and trusting Christ more than we fear rejection, criticism, failure, or loss. Where has fear of people caused me to remain silent, soften what God has said, compromise obedience, or seek approval at the expense of faithfulness to Christ?
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 9 July 2026: Identify one area where fear of another person’s reaction has kept you from obeying God, speaking truth in love, or doing what you know is right. Before the end of today, take one specific step of obedience in that area, after praying for the courage to trust Christ’s presence more than you fear the response of others.
Pray: “Father, You knew me before I knew You and have made me Your own through Christ. Forgive me for trusting my weakness, fearing people, and clinging to idols more than I trust Your presence and Your Word. Root out whatever keeps me from wholehearted obedience, make me more like Christ, and give me courage to do everything You call me to do, trusting that You are with me and will accomplish Your purposes. Amen.”
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 