The Potter and the Clay (Jer 18:1-4)
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you heara] my words.”3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Jeremiah had been called by God to warn Judah again to turn from their wicked ways. Jeremiah was God’s chosen prophet; he had a unique and irrevocable call on his life. Look at Jeremiah 1:5:”“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
God called him and then he sanctified him. God has a special calling in each and all of our lives. Like Jeremiah, we need to know what God wants us to do! There is something great in each and everyone of us that God wants to bring out of us!
God told Jeremiah in chapter 18:1 to go down to the potters house. For Jeremiah the knowing was in the going God had something he wanted to share with Jeremiah but he needed to go to the potter’s house. Like Jeremiah, we can’t know what God wants us to do unless we go where he is sending us. The revelation came through obedience. God was giving Jeremiah a sneak preview of how God makes lives over on the potters wheel (now that Christ is resurrected and we have the Holy Spirit in us)
Have you ever been to a potters house? If you had you would know that behind the potter’s house is the mud and clay. It doesn’t look like much. In the front of the house of course is the show room where all the potter’s finished masterpieces are displayed. Between the clay and the showroom of course is where the potters wheel is. Now in Verse 4 we see that the clay was marred. The potter didn’t mar the clay, but he saw the clay was marred. Just like this potter saw the imperfections in this clay, and God saw the imperfections in Judah,our Potter, Father God sees the imperfections in our lives which is why he puts us back on the potters wheel so that he can reshape us and remold us into a masterpiece. This is the kind of work that we see God do each and every day at the potters wheel called “the ranch”. Men and women come in marred and broken and the potter transforms them into new creations, beautiful masterpieces. Don’t get stuck in your past, the past was the miry clay field, God is making, and shaping, and molding you into the vessel he wants you to be, giving you the Master’s Touch. Remember just as the potters creation goes through a kiln, we too will experience fiery trials in life to strengthen us.
Always remember God has a purpose and a plan for you. Jesus Loves You So Much!
For God so loved the world,a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
