I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 1-3.

    The calling of the prophet Jeremiah contains several elements which apply to each and every one of us. God knew us before we were conceived and He formed us in our mother’s womb to fulfill the purpose for which He would call us. When the time comes for us to answer God’s calling He will put His words in our mouth and will guide our hands to the task He has for us. But the thing which struck me the most today was God’s instruction to not be afraid of those to whom He sent us to speak. If we allow fear of our listeners to temper the words God has given us, He will make us look foolish in front of them. Time and again I have seen people who declare a truth make fools of themselves by partially or fully retracting it when those to whom it applies take offense. This does not mean that we should not be willing to apologize when we offend someone by misspeaking or even saying something wrong. But if what we said was the truth we should stand by it.

    The topic I want to write about requires care because what I want to say can easily be taken incorrectly. Where Jeremiah wrote about bringing the people of Israel into a fruitful land which they promptly defiled I thought of the original settlers in what is now the United States. When those original settlers arrived they found a fruitful land much of which was now uninhabited because those who lived there had been killed by disease. However, rather than accept the bounty which they had been given and serving God in that land they soon tried to drive out those few people who remained. Those settlers did not do anything which is not common to man throughout history, but they had the opportunity to mold something which was so much better. I believe that time and again God has called the people who live in what is now the United States to serve Him, and time and again some fraction of them have answered that call. As a result those who live here have been blessed. However, time and again the majority of people living here have squandered God’s blessings in their idolatrous worship of themselves.