You Might Be More Prepared Than You Think
What God Knows About You That You Can't See Yet
Have you ever been asked to do something and your brain immediately started creating a list of reasons you probably couldn't do it?
Give a talk.
Try out for something.
Take a harder class.
Accept a calling.
Talk to someone you don't know.
Stand up for something you believe.
Move somewhere new.
Do something that feels completely outside your comfort zone.
Sometimes we don't even wait to find out whether we can do it.
We decide ahead of time:
I'm not that kind of person.
I'm not confident enough.
I'm not good with people.
I'm not smart enough.
I'm not spiritual enough.
I've never done anything like this.
Someone else would be better.
Jeremiah understood that feeling.
When God called him to become a prophet, Jeremiah's first response was:
“Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
—Jeremiah 1:6
That's a pretty understandable reaction.
God was asking Jeremiah to speak His words to people who would not always want to hear them. Jeremiah would eventually confront spiritual corruption, preach to leaders, and continue speaking even when people rejected him.
Jeremiah looked at the assignment.
Then he looked at himself.
And all he could see was the distance between the two.
I cannot.
But God was looking at the exact same young man and seeing something Jeremiah couldn't see yet.
Before Jeremiah says, “I cannot,” God tells him:
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.”
—Jeremiah 1:5
Think about what that means.
Jeremiah knows his present.
God knows more of his story.
Jeremiah knows what he has done so far.
God knows what has already been placed inside him, what He has been preparing, and what Jeremiah can become with God's help.
Jeremiah remembers only his mortal experience.
God remembers before that.
Scripture teaches that we lived with God before we came to earth.
Abraham saw God's spirit children and learned that among them were “many of the noble and great ones” (Abraham 3:22).
Doctrine and Covenants 138 teaches that God's children received instruction before birth and were “prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:56).
You don't remember that part of your story right now.
God does.
Which means God knows things about your preparation that you may not presently remember.
That's an interesting thought.
Maybe there are abilities in you that haven't fully appeared yet.
Maybe there are experiences you're having right now that will prepare you for something years from now.
Maybe something you're learning because you enjoy it will eventually become useful in a way you can't currently imagine.
Maybe the reason you feel unprepared is simply because you're judging the future using only what you can see in the present.
Jeremiah did that.
God didn't.
When Jeremiah said:
“I cannot speak.”
God didn't answer:
Jeremiah, you're actually amazing. Believe in yourself.
His answer was better:
“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee.”
—Jeremiah 1:8
Notice where Jeremiah's confidence was supposed to come from.
Not:
I can do anything because I'm awesome.
But:
I can move forward because God is with me.
That's a very different kind of confidence.
There will be moments when believing in yourself is difficult.
You may genuinely lack experience.
You may be nervous.
You may not be the best person in the room.
You may still have a lot to learn.
Faith doesn't require pretending those things aren't true.
It means putting another truth beside them:
God can help me become more than I currently am.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make while you're young is taking something that is true about you right now and turning it into a permanent statement about your future.
I'm shy.
Maybe.
But that doesn't tell you what courage God can develop in you.
I'm not good at this.
Maybe not yet.
I don't know what I'm doing.
That's how almost everybody begins.
I'm not ready.
Maybe you're more prepared than you realize.
God doesn't need you to have your whole future figured out at fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen.
He does ask you to trust Him enough to take the next step.
And sometimes the things that feel random while you're living them make much more sense when you look backward later.
You realize:
That experience taught me how to talk to people.
That failure made me more compassionate.
That class gave me a skill I needed later.
That calling taught me something.
That friendship changed me.
That difficult season taught me how to help somebody else.
Preparation is often easier to recognize afterward.
That's one reason Jeremiah's story matters.
He could only see the young man standing there.
God could see the prophet he was still becoming.
Don't let who you are today place limits on who God can help you become.
Scripture
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.”
—Jeremiah 1:5
“Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
—Jeremiah 1:6
“Say not, I am a child… Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee.”
—Jeremiah 1:7–8
“Even before they were born, they… received their first lessons in the world of spirits, and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord.”
—Doctrine and Covenants 138:56
Reflection
Where in your life does your inner language currently sound like Jeremiah's:
“I cannot”?
What are you assuming about your future because of something you struggle with right now?
Why do you think God reminded Jeremiah that He knew him before birth at the exact moment Jeremiah felt unqualified?
What is the difference between saying “I'm amazing at this” and saying “God will help me do this”?
Can you think of something you once felt unprepared to do but later realized you had been more prepared than you knew?
What might God currently be developing in you that you won't fully understand until later?
Today's Challenge
Identify one place in your life where you've been saying:
I can't.
Write it down.
Then put God's answer from Jeremiah beside it:
“I am with thee.”
Maybe yours looks like:
I don't think I can handle this.
I am with thee.
I don't think I'm good enough.
I am with thee.
I've never done this before.
I am with thee.
Then pray and ask:
“Heavenly Father, what have You already taught me, given me, or begun developing in me that can help me take the next step?”
Don't demand the entire plan.
Look for the next step.
And take it.
Christ-Centered Thought
There is something comforting about the fact that God didn't respond to Jeremiah's insecurity by telling him he had misunderstood himself.
Jeremiah really was young.
He really was inexperienced.
The assignment really was bigger than him.
What changed everything was the promise:
“I am with thee.”
Jesus Christ doesn't wait until you become impressive enough before He can work through you.
He worked with fishermen who had never led a worldwide Church.
He worked with young missionaries.
He worked with prophets who felt inadequate.
He worked with people who were still learning, changing, repenting, and becoming.
He can work with you.
You may not presently remember everything God knows about you.
You may not see the preparation He sees.
You may not understand where your life is headed.
But when Jeremiah said:
“I cannot,”
God answered:
“I am with thee.”
Maybe those two phrases belong together.
You will encounter plenty of things in life that you cannot do completely on your own.
Thankfully, you were never expected to.
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