Verse of the Day for May 7

God speaks of before. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. Jeremiah answers with now. I cannot speak: for I am a child.

That is the whole conversation in miniature. We judge our purpose by what we can see in ourselves today. God speaks from a place that existed before we had a body to judge.

Jeremiah's protest is not wicked. It is honest. He was young, the nations were large, and the message would be hard to carry. God does not scold him for feeling small. Read a verse further and you find God simply keeps talking, and reaches out to touch his mouth.

Being known first changes the work at hand. You do not need to prove your worth in the task, because your worth was settled before the task existed. You only need to do the task.

A young teacher facing a class of forty, a first time supervisor on a building site in Abuja, a mother with a newborn at two in the morning. Each can say what Jeremiah said, that they are too young for this. And each is already known.

Your adequacy was never the foundation of your calling.

Do the work at hand as someone already known.