Ponder: Young people serving God effectively.
Scripture: “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12, NKJV).
I’ve been fascinated for years with the prophet Jeremiah and King Josiah of Judah. When God called him to be a prophet, Jeremiah protested that he couldn’t handle the job because “I am a youth” (Jer. 1:6). A best guess puts him in his early twenties.
Then there’s King Josiah. He assumed the throne at age eight, though nothing of his reign is recorded until the eighth year when he began to seek the Lord and the twelfth year when he began to dismantle idolatry in Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chron. 34:1-3). That would make him twenty years old, close to Jeremiah’s age.
Judah was still suffering the aftereffects of Josiah’s father, Manasseh, who had perpetrated wholesale apostasy for over five decades. He sincerely repented late in life, but correction of his errors was too-little-too-late. Josiah and Jeremiah had a gigantic mess to clean up!
The godly young men enjoyed some early successes. They dramatically reduced idolatry, cleansed the Temple, found and read the book of the Law, and restored true worship at least partially. Who knows whether some jaded souls snubbed them because they were young? God used them to move a nation toward righteousness.
Tragically, Josiah got himself killed in an ill-advised conflict with Pharaoh Necho, leaving Jeremiah to mourn and carry on without him (2 Chron. 35:20-25). How he must have missed his friend and fellow worker!
We ought not to despise godly young servants of the Lord. He can and has used them to accomplish His purpose. Thank God for them! May their tribe increase!
Hymn: “Make Me A Servant”
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may we who are older despise the young, but rather encourage and support them as they strive to advance the cause of Christ. In His name, Amen.
–Joe Slater
