Jeremiah said, “I do not know how to speak for I am only a boy.” The Lord said, “Do not say, I am only a boy… Do not be afraid …” Jeremiah 1:6-8.

Was there ever a time in your life when you felt that you had the world in the palm of your hand? It may have been the time when you were young and strong and healthy and you felt, as many of the very young do, that you were indestructible.

It may have been the time when you were just married or had just moved to a new home or city.

This may not be everyone’s experience, but many experience a time in life, if even for a brief while, when there is great hope and optimism. The future seems bright.

Many people, however, no longer live with that amazing sense of well-being with the world. They’ve been through too much. Even young people may face so many challenges in the complicated world in which we live that many of them lose the rose-tinted glasses quickly. Young and old alike can move from optimism to despair, from hope to feelings of hopelessness.

When God called the young Jeremiah to be a prophet and to speak in His name, Jeremiah had his excuse ready. He lost the rose-tinted glasses quickly. “I am only a boy,” he said. Many of us are like Jeremiah; we live in the place of “I am only…” We live in the place of our limitations.

Some may say, “I am only an old person” or “I am only a young person” or “I am only one person what difference can I make” or “I am only (fill in the blank).

We all have limitations but if God calls us to a task He will equip us to do it. God does not want us to use “I am only…” as an excuse for not living fully and to the glory of God. No matter what our “I am only” is, God calls us to move beyond that, not in our own strength and wisdom, but in His strength.

It is wonderful what God says to Jeremiah; “Before you were born I knew you, when you were in the womb I knew you and I have chosen you.” In other words, God is saying, I know what I can do with you; I know how I can use you. Do not say, “I am only…” Do not be afraid.