“Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations’ ” (Jeremiah 1:4, 5).
Maybe you’ve heard people say to a prospective mother, “You’re carrying your baby low. It must be a boy.” Or, “If you have morning sickness all day long, it’s definitely a girl.” Some ideas for determining the sex of your unborn child are rather strange. One tale says that if a future mom craves sweet foods, she’s carrying a girl; and if she can’t get enough sour and salty foods, a boy is on the way.
There are a host of bizarre myths floating around on the Internet, but an ultrasound done between weeks 18 and 20 has an 80 to 90 percent accuracy rate on whether you’ll paint the nursery pink or blue.
God knows our gender before we are born. Better than that, the Lord knows us even before we are formed in the womb. That’s what He said to Jeremiah when He called the young man to be a prophet during one of the most difficult points in Israel’s history. God set apart the son of Hilkiah to speak His words to a rebellious people. It was a fearful job, and Jeremiah shrank from this calling.
But the Lord assured the reluctant prophet, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth” and “Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:7, 8). More than that, the prophet did not need to come up with messages for the people on his own. “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth’ ” (verse 9).
Each of us is set apart to represent God to the world. Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (John 15:16).
Dear Father, you chose me to be Your child before the world was created. Thank You for creating me and for giving me a mission to represent You.
