Jeremiah was a young man when the Lord called him to be a prophet to the kingdom of Judah (and ‘the nations’ – Jer 1:5) in the 40 years before Judah’s exile to Babylon in 587 BC. He was worried about what he would say, offering up the excuse of his youth (Jer 1:6). Humanly, Jeremiah’s concern is understandable. But it was Divine initiative at work here and therefore able to overcome all obstacles. Hence the Lord comforted him promising: “Do not be afraid… for I am with you and will rescue you’ (Jer 1:8). With that he also put his words in Jeremiah’s mouth (Jer 1:9). Naturally, we tend to put our humanly understood abilities (and resulting limitations) ahead of God’s reality when we think of what is possible in his kingdom. So today, we’ll look at how God’s word also works in our life to bring us into Godly vocations. In these vocations we serve him and his creation in confidence, although as with Jeremiah, not necessarily without trial!