5/21/19 

Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

“Your words were found.”  The writer expects that we will understand that this is more than a casual discovery.  And his description as he continues he directs to the importance he places on this discovery.

1.       This word is “eaten”, or it is digested as his food is in his daily existence.  And as his food is necessary to his existence the “eaten word” is necessary to the existence he describes.

2.      “For I am called by your name”, or I am called to your name or to you; or even your name is called up on me (by your call I belong to you); or you who are the Lord God have called me.  Whatever you choose this is the Old Testament equivalent of the “call” in Romans 8:28-29.

This is found in Jeremiah 1:4-5.  We are to recognize that Jeremiah’s salvation and vocation were both a result of the “call of God.”  The theologian Bible student knows that conversion is not always prior to vocation, but he knows as well that it should be.  But just as salvation is a gift, vocation is also.

The found word, the eaten word, and the joyful heart are all a result.  For, or because, you have called me O, Lord God of armies.