Before You Were Formed

Grace for All

Made in His Image

Jeremiah 1: 4-5

“The Lord gave me this message: I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart.”

My first appointment as a pastor was to a small country church in West Alabama. My wife was expecting our first child, and there was no hospital in the community, so the birth was planned for a hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, about 40 miles away. The due date was January 1st. On December 30th the largest snowstorm in recorded history hit Alabama and Mississippi. We could not get out of our driveway! Panic and prayer! And calls around for a midwife should labor begin. Fortunately, the birth was late—on January 6th. The snow had melted enough to get to Meridian where Bert was born.

In those days, dads were not allowed in labor and delivery, so I was left in the hospital room until a nurse came and said, “You have a son.” As soon as she left, I knelt beside the bed, thanked God for this tiny life, and gave my son to God. There would be many ups and downs in Bert’s life in the years to come, but that promise I made on the linoleum floor of Rush Memorial Hospital remained and remains.

It is easy for me to understand what God says to Jeremiah in the passage I read. Two basic things:

1. I love you. From the beginning. From before the beginning. Almost every mother and father understands this. And if I am capable of loving my child even before he or she is born, imagine the love of the eternal Creator for his children.
2. I have a dream for you. In my case as a father, that dream had no specificity—vocation, location, education or income levels—but it was a dream that Bert would live a life of faith and faithfulness, of goodness and kindness.

From before you were born, God loved you. From before you were born, God had a dream for you. What God says to Jeremiah he says to you.

Dear God, fill me with the wonder of your love and your plan for me. Long before my knowing. Even before I was born. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Herb Sadler.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.