Jeremiah 1:4-10

“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.’” vs.9

Jeremiah had felt totally unqualified when he heard the call to be a prophet in Judea. It made no sense–he was just a kid and didn’t have a clue about what he might be expected to say. As it turned out, that wasn’t an obstacle. The Lord simply put words in his mouth and announced, “Okay, now you’re good to go!” Now that’s normally not the sort of thing that people like to hear. In fact, we’re likely to resent it when we suspect that someone is putting words in our mouths. But in situations when we don’t have any idea about what we should say, a moment of deep crisis or pain for instance, it’s a great blessing to have the Holy Spirit put words in our mouths. It’s that sort of thing that happens regularly for people of faith. When faced with a moment in which we’re tongue-tied or afraid, our simple prayer, “Lord, give me some wise and loving words to say,” will not go unheard. All we need to do is open our hearts to the person standing in front of us, and appropriate words will come to our tongues, and even though to us they may seem fumbling and foolish, to the one who is hurting, they will be heard as having come from the mouth of God.

Thought for the Day: Where do I find words when I’m speechless?