I KNEW YOU!

"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." 

Jer.1:5

Purpose - we need it. All of us wants to know that we are useful in life in someway, that our lives are not all just a waste. We are not robots on an assembly line, doing the same tasks, the same way, everyday. We were created unique and approach things from different mindsets, experiences and determinations. Yet, this is not an excuse for abhorrent behavior by sayng, "God made me this way!"  All sinful desire and sinful behavior no matter how small or deviant comes from within man (1 Jn.2:3,16) and ultimately finds its home in the evil one (Jn.8:44). God did not make us the way we are, that is not what Jeremiah says.  Evil - sin is a choice and been such since the days of our creation.  So, let's see what Jer.1:5 is saying that God knows, and what He did create us for.

1. I knew you  in this passage does not mean mere acquaintance. It is a statement of choice as a consequence of knowledge. This parallelism of contrast is frequent in the poetical books of the Bible (Psa.1:6;  Gen.18:19; Amos 3:2) and shows God's knowledge of what kind of people we can be if we choose to and set our minds to it. 

2. I consecrated you  “to set apart” from a common to a special use; hence arose the secondary sense, “to sanctify,” both in a ceremonial and moral way. It is not God keeping Jeremiah from ever sinning as some would have it mean, but that because of Jeremiah's character separated hims to be His spokesperson not merely the Hebrews, but also the nations hostile to them (Jer.25:12-38; 27:1-21; 46:1-51:64).

3. I appointed you - God had a purpose for this kind of person. The same as God has always had in men like Noah, Moses, Abraham, Daniel, and many others, who because of their character God saw something special.  

What we need to understand here, is that we do not have to be a "special" someone in order to be used by God. It is not the glitz, glamour, money, popularity that God looks for (1 Sam.16:7; 2 Cor.10:7). It is the heart, your soul, your spirit that God looks at. What we need to understand is that it is God's will that will always be done. We can either be useful to that cause, or we can be used for that cause. Just as God chose Jeremiah because of his spirit for good, God also chose Pharaoh of Egypt for his spirit to demonstrate what if we will not allow God to use us for God - He will use us in our evil to accomplish His will to bring about good.  

The question we need to ask ourselves, is what kind of spirit do we have?  "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.(Eph.2:10)" 

Jim