Why choose Jeremiah?

I believe it God who prompted me to choose the book of Jeremiah as a study for this year. I don't know how I will study the book (I've never done such a thing before!) but I guess He will lead me even as I start on this journey.

One of the first things I did after choosing the book was to read the commentaries provided on e-sword about the book in general. They gave overviews of events that took place in Jeremiah, but one thing that caught my eye was the way they described the prophet Jeremiah.

"Jeremiah was little more than 20 years old (another says 14) when he was called as a prophet of God, the son of a prophet.

Jeremiah himself is described as sensitive to a most painful degree, timid, shy, hopeless, susceptible of melancholy, desponding, constantly complaining, and dissatisfied with the course of events, with the office which had been thrust upon him and with the manner of the Divine Providence. He was not one whose sanguine temperament made him see the bright side of things, nor did he quickly find peace and happiness in doing his Master's will. However, he was never rebuked because he was doing his duty to the utmost extent of his powers. He is a noble example of the triumph of the moral over the physical nature, of the Spirit of prophecy controlling his natural temper and qualifying him for his hazardous undertaking without doing violence to his individuality."

(paraphrased from commentaries)

And I guess that was what really struck me. Anna is little more than 20 years old, daughter of a pastor, calling yet unclear. She is sensitive, timid, shy, hopeless, melancholic, desponding… (hopefully, the last parts about God's spirit controlling his natural temper and qualifying him for his undertaking can be applied to me too… sometime in the future.)

You know, you tend to see prophets and leaders of God to be strong personalities, good with words, and all the positive things that you can think of, and then you look at yourself and think, 'nah, He can never use me.' But then again, God uses everyone. He uses the hopeless and the losers and the ones who 'will never make it' to prove wrong those the world thinks wise.

I pray that this book will open to me the wealth of God's blessings and providence in a personality described so like mine. If you have any suggestions on how this study should be carried out, do tell me, or else I'll just muddle through somehow.