Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?
2) What does it mean to be set apart and appointed?
3) What is the response to this verse?
Jeremiah 1:5
I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Original Intent
1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?
In verse 4 Jeremiah informs readers that the Spirit of the Lord came to him; what follows is his encounter with God, or more specifically, the calling of God on his life. In this call, we learn incredible details for the call on the life of every believer. God tells Jeremiah that, before he was formed in the womb, he was chosen, or known, by God. There is incredible intimacy described here! The God of the universe intimately and loving created Jeremiah as an infant, but He knew Jeremiah, and the plans He had for him, before that knitting together of his tiny body ever occurred. Matthew Henry says it better than I ever could, “(God) let him (Jeremiah) know He who gave him his commission is the same One that gave him his being, that formed him in the belly and brought him forth out of the womb, that therefore He (God) was his (Jeremiah’s) rightful owner and might employ him and make use of him as He pleased, and that this commission was given him in pursuance of the purpose God had purposed in Himself concerning him, before he was born.”
2) What does it mean to set apart and appointed?
God tells Jeremiah specifically what his role in the kingdom is, exactly what his purpose is. Jeremiah was to be a prophet to the nations. In this calling, God is informing Jeremiah, as well as commissioning him out into that role. It was time for Jeremiah to accept and embrace God’s call regardless of his age. In verses 8-10 we see more details of this appointment. God did not simply call Jeremiah and then leave him alone to figure everything out on his own. God also equips Jeremiah and gives him His words to share (verse 9).
3) What is the response to this verse?
God didn’t force Jeremiah into his calling. God simply invited Jeremiah into His divine plan. Jeremiah had a choice to make, would he step out in faith and embrace that calling or would he run the other way. In the Old Testament, God gives examples of both. Jeremiah chose to step into his calling, regardless of what it would look like in his life and the sacrifices it would mean for him. Jeremiah chose God right back. However, Jeremiah did not make this choice immediately. In Jeremiah’s account beyond this one verse, we learn Jeremiah thought he was too young and objected to his calling (verse 6).
Everyday Application
1) What does it mean to be chosen, or known, as several other versions say?
Just as Jeremiah was intimately known and called into a purposeful life, such is the calling for everyone who chooses to follow Christ. Matthew Henry says, “The great Creator knows what use to make of every man before He makes him. He has made all for himself.” Just as Jeremiah was known and chosen for a purpose before he was formed so are each of us. God has a plan and a design for every human being. He intimately and specifically crafts us in our mother’s womb with those purposes and plans in mind. He makes no mistakes. What that means for each of us is that we need to embrace this plan and design in order to realize our fullest delight and purpose. None of us look the same as another, and none of us play the exact same role in the Kingdom of God, but we all have a divinely ordained purpose, and it’s the perfect one for us!
2) What does it mean to be set apart and appointed?
Jeremiah was not the only person to be set apart and appointed by God. We see throughout Scripture God calling people into His purposes and appointing them to His work. He didn’t always appoint people in the same way, and He still doesn’t today. On a large scale, believers are all called and set apart to make disciples of all nations as Jesus appointed us in Matthew 28:19-20. This calling is for every single believer and God empowers and equips each of us to live out that calling. However, God goes about this work in different ways in each of us. God sets His people apart and appoints them to His purpose often utilizing the gifts unique to each believer while also using the different passions in each of us. Where might God be calling you to live out the purpose He has for you?
3) What is the response to this verse?
Just as a Jeremiah had a choice to make, so do we. God invites all of us to play a role in His greater story and we, like this Old Testament prophet, must choose whether we will say yes or whether we will choose fear and make excuses to not join God in His work. The Lord will never force us. He is not a God who wants to control us, rather He is a God who desires deep, intimate relationship with us. Just because He loves us and has purposed a plan for us doesn’t mean the call will always be easy, Jeremiah’s sure wasn’t, but it will always be worth it. It may take us out of our comfort zone, or to a place we never dreamed we would go, but when we choose to say yes and join in on God’s activity, it is always more than we could ever dream or expect. The choice is mine and the choice is yours… what will we choose? How can you live out that choice starting today?!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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