In the Potter’s hands
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NIV)
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
The definition of Marred is:
| 1 | to damage or spoil to a certain extent; render less perfect, attractive, useful, etc.; impair or spoil |
| 2 | to disfigure, deface, or scar |
When we enter into the potter’s house, I believe we enter with the definitions described upon ourselves. We enter in damaged and scarred because of past experiences. We enter in less perfect and attractive because we developed a negative attitude. We enter in disfigured because for years, (based on our situations) Satan has us brainwashed.
Some are brainwashed to believe that they deserve what they are going thru.
Some are brainwashed to believe that they just have to walk away and not confront the problem/situation. This is why the enemy is attacking marriages, our children, our relationships.
Some are brainwashed to believe that something is wrong with everyone but themselves.
Oft times we are proud; unconcerned with God's holiness or His authority; we are accustomed to comfort; we think we deserve luxury; in our busyness we neglect the ministry of mercy toward the outcast and downtrodden.
Did you know the Lord has already have entrusted you with a ministry??
Our marriages, our children, our families, our friends and how we nurture our relationships is our ministry.
Jeremiah 31: 1-2
1 “At the same time,” says the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”2 Thus says the LORD:
“ The people who survived the sword
Found grace in the wilderness—
Israel, when I went to give him rest.”
This is a promise for not only us, but for our families. Whatever the cost is, there is a promise. Notice how the verse tells us the people who survived meaning, didn’t give up, fought til the end but Grace was there.
The bible tells us:
Luke 16:10
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
This is why we have to commit to our first ministries
Instead of letting our minds wander away we need to ask the Lord to work thru us so that we can perform according to his will. Sometimes we think that if things were different, if the situation would just go away we would be better off when often times, things get tough in our situations to strengthen us and when we get thru that hard time in the fire, we become grateful that we had to endure hardship to get to the blessing. If everything were easy, how would we ever see God’s Glory?? When would we give him honor??
When we enter into the Potter’s hands, we can expect to come out shaped by him. However we need to enter with a willingness to change and face truth about ourselves. Not condemn ourselves for the bible says:
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
In other words, let go of the old mind set. Don’t get stuck there.
It’s a painful process to face our faults and deal with them when we have been conformed in seeing other’s faults before our own. We even develop patterns in our minds to point out each and every fault of the other person because we think we deserve to be heard and pitied. We look for justifications for our misbehavior. Our past may explain why we are suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.
The truth is always revealed thru God’s word but sadly people don’t always accept it.
A visit to the Potter’s House gives us more than a picture of pottery making in biblical times. It also gives us a glimpse into the heart of God. As the master Creator, He shapes and forms His people according to His will and purpose. He is both sovereign and loving in this process.
Let’s closely examine three of the ingredients needed to make beautiful and useful pottery: clay, a wheel, and the potter’s hand.
1. Clay
When the potter desires to create something, he must have clay. The kind of clay that is available to him will determine what kind of pottery he can make. There are many variations of clay. Clays can be moist or dry, various shades of earth tones in color, and have different compositional make-up. The potter works with each of these variations for his own purposes and alters the clays as he sees fit.
Being clay is humbling. When we have a funeral, we say the deceased has gone from ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Our bodies were formed from the materials of the earth, and our bodies will one day return to where it came.
If we understand we are the clay, then we will give ourselves over to the Potter’s purposes while we still are on this earth. It means we will trust that how the Maker will form us will be the best for us.
“What kind of person do you want to become?”
This is the kind of question God is interested in when he speaks to Israel. What kind of nation did He want them to be? Submissive, obedient, set-apart, loyal, loving, sacrificial, devoted, faithful, and so on. In other words, he wanted them to have Godly Character.
When he looks at you and I, he is more concerned about the question of the kind of people we are becoming than He is about our profession or future profession. He desires for us to have the characteristics mentioned above and more. He is forming us into the very character of Christ.
2. Wheel
The word for wheel in the Hebrew is a word picture—it literally means two stones. The feet turn one stone, the bottom stone. The top stone, the smaller stone, is connected to the bottom stone by a vertical axle. So the potter would simply use their feet to turn the clay, freeing up his hands to shape the vessel.
This is the wheel the potter was working on in Jeremiah 18:3. We can think of the wheel as the wheel of life.
We are all on the wheel of life, but can we say that being on the wheel has changed us?
Often we want to run from or change our circumstances. We may even become embittered toward God because of the situations we find ourselves in. If we do, we will only find that we will face the same circumstances elsewhere. Why? Because we are still the same clay, spinning on the wheel of life’s circumstances.
The turn of events come and go, but the clay spinning on the wheel by itself will not make a pot. In the same way, circumstances in life do not necessarily shape us. We must have the third ingredient, the Potter’s hand
3. Potter’s Hand
The Potter is God. It is His hand that shapes the nations, and it is His hand that shapes you and I. The activity of the potter in Jeremiah gives us a glimpse into how God treats us as the clay.
A. The Potter’s Hand is Caring (marred in his hands)
v. 4 tells us the pot the potter was shaping was “marred” in his hands. We do not know exactly what was wrong with the clay—it could have been too wet or too dry, have been ruined or spoiled in some way. But even though it was not perfect, he wanted to keep working with it. The clay is the subject of his love.
Even though the nation of Israel kept straying from God, He loved and cared for Israel. If Israel were spoiled clay, then God would try to use it again. In the same way, we are in the hands of a loving God. Even if there is some blemish on us that seems to make us useless, God will find a way to shape us. He knows each one of us like the potter knows his clay, and He cares for enough to redeem us.
B. The Potter’s Hand is Steadfast (formed another pot)
v.4 also says that the potter formed the spoiled clay into another pot. The verb tense in the original language suggests that the potter would do this continually, over and over again, until the pot was made as He wished. He was steadfast in making that piece of clay into a beautiful and useful piece of pottery.
Not only does God care about us, but also He is steadfast in that care. He will not give up on us even if we need to be remade. If He does not see us responding to His making, He will start over. He treats us the same way, never giving up on us. Finally,
C. The Potter’s Hand is Purposeful (as seemed best to him)
When the Potter shaped the clay into another pot, he did so as best seen fit by him. God is sovereign over the whole process.
God is all knowing—does He know what kind of person we could be? He does. He fashions us according to Who we are and the kind of character he wishes for us to possess. He knows exactly how we as a piece of pottery will fit into His purposes.
God is also sovereign—do we know what is best for us? The Israelites tried to be the potter, forgetting that they were the clay. In 18:12, Israel’s reply to God’s call to change and repent of their ways:
12 But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"
Isaiah the Prophet, in 29:16 (45:9), says the same about Israel in her relationship with God:
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
In other words, who are we to think that we are on the same level as the Lord aka THE POTTER when his ways are higher than ours. There are NO LIMITS to what he can do if we only become willing and submissive as the Lord desires for us to become.
The verse goes further on to say:
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
"He did not make me"?
Can the pot (which is us) say of the potter,
"He knows nothing"?
Our answer to God is often the same. We want to take our destiny into our own hands. We want to shape and form our lives to fit what we want. When we insist on doing things our way, then we are becoming the potter when we are truly the clay.
Conclusion
The Potter’s caring, steadfast, and purposeful hand would apply pressure at specific parts of the pot as he shaped it. When the Master Potter shapes us, He too must apply pressure. He does so gently. No matter how hard our situation is, be encouraged.
The end product of us becoming a finished product is the kind of person who is beautiful and useful to its Creator.
So I leave everyone challenging to ask this question:
WHAT KIND OF CHRISTIAN DO I WANT TO BECOME??
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