‘JEHOVAH TOUCHED MY MOUTH’

3. What meaningful gesture did God make toward Jeremiah at the beginning of his work, and how did the prophet feel about it?

³ Recall that at the start of his prophetic ministry, Jeremiah heard these words: “To all those to whom I shall send you, you should go; and everything that I shall command you, you should speak. Do not be afraid because of their faces, for ‘I am with you to deliver you,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.” (Jer. 1:7, 8) And then God made an unexpected gesture. Jeremiah tells us: “Jehovah thrust his hand out and caused it to touch my mouth. Then Jehovah said to me: ‘Here I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have commissioned you this day.’” (Jer. 1:9, 10) From then on, Jeremiah knew that he spoke for Almighty God.a With His full support, Jeremiah’s zeal for sacred service grew.​—Isa. 6:5-8.

4. What examples of outstanding zeal in preaching can you relate?

⁴ Jehovah does not physically touch any of his servants today. Yet, through his spirit, he does give them a strong desire to preach the good news. Many of them glow with zeal. Take the case of Maruja in Spain. For over 40 years, her arms and legs have been paralyzed. Preaching from door to door is difficult for her, so she finds other ways to be active in the ministry. One way is by writing letters. Maruja dictates the words to her daughter, who writes them down. During a month-long campaign, Maruja and her “secretary” sent out over 150 letters, enclosing a copy of a tract in each envelope. Through their efforts, the good news reached most of the homes in a nearby village. Maruja commented to her daughter, “If one of our letters gets into the hands of a person with an upright heart, Jehovah will bless us with a Bible study.” A local elder writes, “I thank Jehovah for sisters like Maruja, who teach others to value what is really important.”