By Jeremiah, Eugene and Me

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” 1.5

v    ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.’

Eugene Peterson says ‘Jeremiah’s life didn’t start with Jeremiah. He entered the world in which the essential parts of his existence were already ancient history. So do we.’ 211

‘We enter a world we didn’t create. If we are to live appropriately we must be aware that we are living in the middle of a story that was begun and will be concluded by another. And this other is God.’211

 ’The story into which life fits is already well on its way when we walk into the room. It is an exciting multi-voiced conversation. The smart thing to do is find out the identity behind the voices and become familiar with the context in which words are being used. Then gradually we venture a statement, make a reflection, ask a question, even dare to register an objection. It is not long before we are regular participants in the conversation in which, as it unfolds, we get to know ourselves even as we are known.’212

 ’Before it ever crossed our minds that God might be important, God singled us out as important. Before we were formed in the womb, God knew us. We are known before we know.’ 211

 ’My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There is something previous to what I think about myself, and that is what God thinks about me. That means everything I think is by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God. I never make the first move.’211′

 This realisation has a practical result. Our lives are not puzzles to be figured out. God is the centre from which all life develops. We come to God, who knows us, and reveals to us the truth of our lives.’211

 v     ‘Before you were born I consecrated you.’

 ’Consecrated means set apart for God’s side.’212

 ’There is a spiritual war in progress, an all-out moral battle. There is evil and cruelty, brutality and pain. And God is in continuous and energetic battle against it . God is for heaven against hell. God is for life against death. God is for love against hate. God is for hope against despair. (And)There is no neutral ground.’

 ’Jeremiah, even before he was born, was enlisted on God’s side in this war. And so are we all. No one enters existence as a spectator. We either take up the life to which we have been consecrated or we traitorously defect from it.’213

 ’God is out to win the world in love and each person has been selected in the same way as Jeremiah was, to be set apart to do it with him. ‘

 ’Before I was good for anything God decided that I was good for what he was doing. I have a set-apart place that only I can fill. No one can substitute for me. No one can replace me. ’214

 v     ‘I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’

 ’The word appointed is literally gave  – I gave you as a prophet to the nations.’

 ’Some things we have a choice in, some we don’t. In this we don’t. It’s the kind of world into which we are born. Giving is woven into the fabric of existence. If we try to live by getting instead of giving, we are going against the grain. All life is given and must continue to be given to be true to its nature.’215

 ’Giving is the way the world is. God gives himself. He also gives away everything that is. He makes no exceptions for any of us. We are given away to our families, to our neighbours, to our friends, to our enemies – to the nations. Our life is for others. Some of us try desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves. We look pathetic doing it. Giving is what we do best. It is the action that was designed into us before our birth.’ 216

 I felt embraced by God the moment I was born. I was brought up by Godly parents to serve God. When I was a child, I was taught how to preach by my father, who was a pastor who taught homiletics – or the art of preparing and presenting homilies – at a theological college. I began preaching in churches at the age of fifteen and began preaching on the streets when I was seventeen. And have been preaching and teaching ever since.

 At a very early age I felt called by God to be a prophet, but I didn’t tell anyone about it except my friend Jim Gibson lest people thought I was big-noting myself. I felt that if it was a true calling – not just figment of my crazy imagination – then sooner or later other people would recognise my vocation and call me a prophet.

 In the last ten years people have started calling me a prophet.  After my book Christi-Anarchy was published, Mike Riddell said ‘Dave Andrews (is) one of the leading prophetic voices of our time… with a message crying out to be heard.’

Now days lots of people like Brian McLaren, the author of A New Kind Of Christian, refer to me as a prophet. ‘It’s natural’ Brian says ‘to think of Dave Andrews as a prophet’ . He says what I have to offer personally ‘offers a powerful example of what a prophet can mean to the church today.’

 While it is true that only a fool believes his own publicity, I believe it is also true  confirmation of a call can only come with the testimony of two or three witnesses.

The question that I need to answer – or be answerable to – is will I be a ‘true’ or ‘false’ prophet? Only time will tell.

Dave Andrews

 Numbers refer to pages in The Quest by Eugene Peterson Zondervan Grand Rapids 2000