Not Quite Finished

““O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!””

Jeremiah 1:6 NLT

I always thought that Psalms was the longest book in the Bible. Which it is, but, it’s a combination of five books of authors that put it together. At 42,000 words and being a single book in every version of the Bible, Jeremiah is actually the longest single book in the Bible. I am reading this now and in the first chapter and in v.6 Jeremiah replies to the Lord, “I can’t speak for you. I am too young.” Those words reminded me of my life when I first went overseas with Kate to be missionaries. When we got back, after two years, I went to finish my Bachelors and Masters degrees and then went to seminary. 

In v.9 the Lord says, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth…” Those first two years in Tanzania I didn’t know what I was saying because I had no training. I grew up in a Baptist church but I didn’t teach, other than kids that were 10 year olds. It is true that I taught mostly youth when I first went to Tanzania, but every now and then, when Doug and Evelyn Knapp went to the States for a year, I spoke to adults. We studied Swahili for the first year but to prepare a sermon was a very hard situation. I am so thankful for Talian Banda escorting me to churches and translating for me. I have no idea what he said but he was the Lord’s “words in my mouth”!

After those two years and coming home for three years, and getting my degrees, we went to Sierra Leone where I actually taught in a seminary. That wasn’t my primary job – I was building churches, schools, and convention centers for the Baptist Convention – but I totally enjoyed teaching. That is where I read Jeremiah and realized that in the beginning, and all along, God put His words in my mouth to proclaim His glory. 

In Jeremiah 15.16 it says, “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and heart’s delight, for I bear your name”. I remember being forceful and hardy when I was preparing a sermon. I don’t recall ever being afraid of teaching His word. The words he put in my mouth were the Bible’s words. The complication was that I was teaching or preaching in a foreign land. Their cultures, languages, and civilization were unfamiliar to me. That is where the Lord stepped in with Talian. He knew all that I didn’t know. Talian didn’t go to collage or seminary until years later, but he used God’s words, that I wrote, to encourage the people that were listening. 

So, if you are ever in a situation where you are called on to speak – to a bible study, a congregation, a class, or just friends – God will put words in your mouth that glorify Him, and will inspire and embolden the people that you are addressing. I am not able to  speak these days, but God has enabled me to write where I spoke all the years overseas. God is so good,