What Do You See?

What Do You See? This question is asked by God as He calls Jeremiah to be his mouth piece. Jeremiah 1:11–12 “And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” [12] Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

Jeremiah is shown a vision after being called to be prophet of God. Jeremiah’s response and God’s response produce a play on words. Jeremiah says he sees an almond (Hb. shaqed) branch, and God states, You have seen well, for I am watching over (Hb. shoqed) my word to perform it.

Since the almond tree was the first tree to bud in the spring, it was said to “watch for spring.” One way that you “watched” was to notice the almond tree. When the almond tree began to bud, you knew Spring was coming. Thus, God is watching over His Word (the Almond tree) for the first opportunity to carry out his promises and disciplines. Therefore, just as Jeremiah could expect that when he speaks God’s words, the words will come true. We, too, can expect that when God’s word goes forth, He is watching over it to manifest His power as well.

What do you see, right now? Do you see problems, lack, sickness, disease, hopelessness? Surely, that is what Jeremiah saw when he looked at the state of his people. Yet, God came in the midst of problems, lack, sickness, disease, hopelessness and gave Jeremiah a new vision, a vision of His Word, producing fruit.

The choice of “what we see” is up to us. We can chose to see problems, lack, sickness, disease, hopelessness or we can choose to see God’s Word in our life producing fruit. Hint: We should choose the latter!

Once we choose to see God’s Word, we then begin to speak the Word that we see. Jeremiah 1:9 “Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. [10] See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

God puts his words in Jeremiah’s mouth and He will do the same for us. Just as God’s Word has power over nations and over kingdoms, it also has power over your life and family. The Sovereign Word of a Sovereign God governs all of creation. The message to Jeremiah is threefold and it is here that we can see power of God manifested in our lives:

1. “Pluck up and break down”, refers to coming against present sin in our lives
2. “Destroy and overthrow”, relates to messages concerning judgment for past sins that must be reconciled through the Blood of Jesus
3. “Build and plant”, means we are to begin speaking hope and renewal through the power of what Jesus has appropriated for us by His death and Resurrection.

Doing these things, removes our eyes from things that have no power to the One who is Power! We need to fix our eyes on Jesus Hebrews 12:2 “…fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God and on His Word.”

Psalm 119:15-16 “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. [16] I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

God wants you to be His mouthpiece; He has a vision for your life, a plan to give you a hope and a future. God is calling you to greatness! The question is, “What do you see”?”