to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Alas, Lord God ! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. "Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares the Lord . Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. "See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant."
Jeremiah 1:2-10 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/jer.1.2-10.NASB
Ok well, we see that God continued to work with Jeremiah through the time of Josiah, King of Judah, grandson of Manasseh, through to the Jehoiakim, Josiah's Son, reign in Judah, to the eleventh year of Zedekiah's, also Josiah's son, eleventh year of reign of Judah.
Both of Josiah's sons died at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar but Zedekiah's fate was the cruelest of the two. He was forced to watch his son's slaughter. He then had his eyes removed, making sure the last thing he saw was that awful death of his sons.
Ok now, I'm not asserting that my knowledge of the history presented is spot on.
Moving on...
Ok, let's examine what the Lord said to him. First can we, the readers, insert ourselves here, should we? Can we assume that these words to Jeremiah is the same for us??? Hmmm...let's take a closer look…
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. We know that He foreknew everything before creating it, so yeah that definitely applies.
This next part I'm not sure can be applied for us all. And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."
While I accept 100% that if His word says so, it is, it isn't clear to me that we, all of his, were consecrated for a divine calling. I think that a mindset that accepts this as our own, can be very effectual in the since that if we believe we were called to do great things, and that He will be with us, well, let's just say, my oh my how empowering.
I get that this touches, yet again, on the exhaustive topic of predestination and election and also OSAS. Heaven forbid, for we have traveled those roads that leads us back to the corpse of a horse, to the point that every bone of that horse has been pummelled to exhaustive and devouring proportions.
I will admit... I think many scriptures of both the OT and NT support it, but so do many also point to the “whosoever” free-will conclusions. I refuse to discount one scripture's truth to accept another. Also, I refuse to draw my conclusions because it eases my mind with regard to the goodness of my maker. Regardless, His ultimate goodness is not up for debate. Somewhere in the entirety of the scripture lies the big picture of truth that brings harmony to them all. I will continue to examine and search and if He grant's my full understanding, echoes of epiphanic delight will soar throughout the Heavens.
Back to Jeremiah, His great and profound calling was for certain, and equally daunting. Much was given and much expected. What an honor, what a privilege that came with much lamenting.