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If you were to ask a group of people to take pencil and paper and sketch a portrait of an Old Testament prophet, many of them would come up with remarkably similar visions: an old gentleman of fierce demeanor with a long, unkempt, grey beard, dressed in flowing robes of coarse material, and perhaps with a gnarled wooden staff in his hand. It would probably look like Charlton Heston playing Moses in The Ten Commandments.

That would not be a bad picture. It would be fairly representative, but only "fairly" so because there is a very different picture in scripture of one of the best-known prophets of all -- Jeremiah. To be sure, he may well have looked like that by the time his career was drawing to a close, but he was nothing like that at the beginning. You see, at the start of his ministry, Jeremiah was just a child.

To be totally accurate, Jeremiah's service as a prophet got its start even before he was a child: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5). The word of the most high God to Jeremiah letting him know that the call to service was neither an accident nor an afterthought. It had been planned in the reaches of eternity.

The biblical record shows that he came on the scene in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah in Israel; that would make it around 626 BC. Josiah had already begun to make a name for himself as one of his nation's best rulers. The Bible says, "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left" (2 Kings 22:2). In 621 BC, Josiah began the work of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, that glorious structure that Solomon had given the people some 300 years before. It had fallen into disuse and disrepair as the people of Israel had gone chasing after other gods, but now times had changed with the rule of a godly king.

Incredible as it might seem, during those years of ignoring the temple, the nation had lost the scripture, literally. In those days before printing presses and Xerox™ machines, copies of the book of the law were few and far between. There were no beautifully bound editions in Israelite homes to be dusted off when the rabbi came to call. All they had were a few fragile scrolls that were kept in the temple for use in public worship. Those scrolls got lost. Some faithful priest had apparently hidden them away to protect them and then failed to tell anybody where they were. The result: no scriptures.

But now, Josiah had called for a restoration of the temple, and in the course of the work, the lost scrolls were found. Suddenly, the nation had God's word again -- the book of Deuteronomy, God's teaching for living in the community of faith. It gave King Josiah the instructions he needed to make proper religious reform. The places for worship of pagan gods were desecrated and destroyed. The priests of the Baals were put to death. A new era had begun for the nation of Israel. And all this was witnessed by a youngster growing up not far from Jerusalem, born into a priestly family in Anathoth, just two or three miles north of the holy city.

Josiah was soon gone -- killed in battle with the Egyptians in 609 BC. He was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz, but his reign lasted only three months before the pharaoh took him as a prisoner back to Egypt and installed another of Josiah's sons, Jehoiakim, on the throne as leader of a vassal state. With that, Jeremiah's ministry was to begin in earnest.

Jeremiah had been prepared. He had been schooled in God's word after the scrolls were found. He knew what the Lord expected of the chosen people. He had been raised just close enough to Jerusalem to be familiar with it and just far enough away not to be overly awed by it. Yes, he was destined to be a prophet of God, but he was not set to the task unprepared.

If you want to know what God expects of you tomorrow, just take a look at what God has done with your yesterdays. Scholars tell us that this account of Jeremiah's call was probably written as much as twenty years after the actual experience, but with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, the prophet could share what he had come to understand. God prepares Jeremiahs -- all of them, even you and me -- for whatever service we are to perform.

There is an old story that has gone the rounds many times but it is most apt. A young farmer one day saw a vision while out in his field. Up in the bright blue sky he saw the fluffy, white, summer clouds form the letters "P C." He was convinced that this was God's way of telling him to become an evangelist: "P C -- Preach Christ." So off he went. After a few months of a notable lack of success, he came back to his own home church to talk with his pastor, a sympathetic man who realized that the farmer was simply not suited for the task he had set for himself. "But what about the vision?" the farmer asked. And the pastor replied, "In this case, P C did not mean 'Preach Christ'; it meant 'Plow Corn.' " God prepares!

Adequate preparation is not the whole story. Jeremiah had been prepared. So saying, we note that he did not exactly jump at the chance. "Ah, sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child" (Jeremiah 1:6). The objection was handled directly: "Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, 'Now, I have put my words in your mouth' " (Jeremiah 1:9). Jeremiah could not possibly object to that.

Of course, it was just an excuse. Scholars feel that Jeremiah was probably in his late teens or early twenties at this point, that time of life when we are convinced that we can do anything. Too young to do something? Die, maybe, but nothing else. At any rate, it was just an excuse and God said, "Do not worry about it."

The age excuse has proven durable over the years, but generally to the other extreme. "Too old" is used far more often than "too young." "Gee, pastor, it really would be better to get somebody younger to teach Sunday school, wouldn't it?" or "I'm too old serve as an officer again; let the young ones do it -- it's their turn." There are always excuses.

When the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the word was disaster. Jeremiah was just like anyone else: he loved his country; he loved his people. He had no desire to preach judgment and destruction on them. No preacher worth his or her salt ever does. But when we see things around us that we know are wrong, we are frankly stuck. Then, when we dare to mention it, we get in trouble. In light of that, any excuse would have been better than none. Scary business, and Jeremiah knew it.

Then the Lord told him not to worry. "They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:19). God had prepared him for a task, God proposed the task to him, and now God promises to preserve him as the task was being carried out. Note one thing: The promise was not that there would be no trouble; the promise was that the trouble would not win.

To be sure, Jeremiah did see his share of trouble. He was hated by his family and friends; he was forbidden to preach in the temple; he was arrested and placed in stocks; he was threatened with death; he was beaten and imprisoned; he was dropped down into a cistern that had nothing in it but gooey muck; finally, he was carried off into exile in Egypt against his will. Eventually, he died there. But God had been true to the promise. Jeremiah's life was preserved and his ministry came to span a half-century, even one of the most difficult half-centuries in the history of the nation of Israel.

What is it that God is calling you to do? Again, if you want to know what God expects of your tomorrows, look at what God has done with your yesterdays. God grant us eyes to see how we have been prepared, ears to hear the task that is proposed, and then the faith to realize that God will preserve us for the completion of that task. May God give us each one a little of Jeremiah.