Jeremiah 1:7-8
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”
I find it amazing how God equips us to accomplish the tasks that He has set before us. He is constantly providing new and different opportunities for us to learn new trades and skills. When those opportunities arise, I imagine that we often say, “I will never need that skill” or “What purpose would it serve to spend time learning that?” The truth is, God provides those opportunities to enrich our lives and prepare us for helping others. If God provides the opportunity, who are we to say, “I don’t need that?” When we question the authenticity of the opportunity, then we should be spending time in prayer to allow God to speak to us about that opportunity. He may or may not reveal why the possibility of learning something new or expanding our toolbelt is important, but He will let us know if the privilege to gain in knowledge and skill is a divine opportunity. He will give us peace about it.
It also does not bode well to argue with God when the chance to grow is presented. In our passage of scripture, God has called Jeremiah to be His voice, the voice of a prophet to the people at a time when the people were struggling with the challenges that would lead them into exile. In the verses just prior to this exchange (Jeremiah 1:5), the Lord tells Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God is telling Jeremiah that his training started before he was even born, that he was set aside and appointed. Jeremiah replies that he doesn’t know how to speak and that he is too young.
We need to trust God to provide us with the tools we need to accomplish the tasks He sets before us. We are never too young, too old, too unskilled, too weak, too ignorant, too unusable to complete the opportunities that God lays out before us. God will equip us for the journey ahead.