If you have ever felt like you were at the end of your rope, then you know a little of what Jeremiah was going through when God gave him this verse.
He wasn’t preaching to big crowds or leading a revival. He was sitting in prison, cut off, hated, and weighed down by all the trouble of his people. Jerusalem was surrounded, the city was falling apart, and there seemed to be no way forward.
It was in that dark moment that God spoke these words: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3).
Charles Spurgeon once called this verse “God’s telephone number.” It’s simple, easy to remember, and always works. Just as you pick up a phone and expect the person on the other end to answer, God says the same about prayer. Call, and He will pick up. Call, and He will answer.
Notice that this was not said to a prophet on the mountain top, but to a man at his lowest. God did not wait until Jeremiah was free and everything looked good. God told him to pray while the walls were crumbling. That shows us something important. Praying to God is most powerful when we are at our weakest.
God promised to show Jeremiah “great and mighty things.” That means things beyond his understanding, things he could not do himself. While Jeremiah was locked up, God was still at work. The Babylonians could lock chains on Jeremiah, but they could not chain up the promises of God.
So what do we take from this? When you are weighed down, when you feel stuck, when everything looks broken, don’t forget His number. Jeremiah 33:3. Call on Him. He still answers.
