Be God’s mouth
Therefore thus says the Lord:“If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. Jeremiah 15:19
God created our voices to be powerful instruments. Often, our voices are underused or misused, as we usually forget that God has given us the authority to speak on His behalf and that this world desperately needs God's voice. It is not only pastors who speak God's voice, nor is it only through ministry's online channels. Every believer has the opportunity to speak God's voice in our sphere of influence.
The key verse today gives a profound condition on how we can become God's mouth, God tells prophet Jeremiah explicitly, “If you take out the precious from the vile ”. Precious means weighty, valuable, rare, such as precious stones, gold, silver, diamonds, while vile means insignificant, worthless, like wood, hay, straw. Jeremiah was instructed by God to separate the precious from the worthless.
It is undeniable that Jeremiah served God feverously, but he underwent rejection and crisis, and the preceding verses describe his pain as "perpetual" and seemingly unending, and thus God as "an unreliable stream like waters that fail” (Jer 15:18).
It is as if Jeremiah is saying, "Lord, how uncaring and unfaithful you have been to me, you promised that your waters would flow through me, but now they have dried up." In response God gently asks Jeremiah to repent by turning to him and reminding him that he must deal with his unworthy, vile thoughts before becoming God's spokesperson and restoring and establishing the prophetic office.
There are times when we are like Jeremiah when we have been following God fervently but are shaken by tough circumstances that challenge our faith in God's goodness. Because of this, we may breed unworthy thoughts. Regardless of what is truly valuable to God, such as building our precious character, experiencing God, and winning His precious souls, those things truly matter.
In the same way that Pharisees produce worthless fruit, other vile practices are masked under the name of religion and legalism. In this way, when God chooses His children to be His mouth, He looks for a vessel flowing from love, not fear, grace, not the law, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. When we reject vile and self-righteous thoughts and discern what really matters, God will call His children "you shall be my mouth", so our voice will have authority and power that brings real change to people.
Blessing prayer: Purify our thoughts and hearts, and give us wisdom to discern what is precious and what is vile. May the Holy Spirit flow through us so we can speak with power and authority. In Jesus' name, Amen
