Filed under: Pastor Kendall's Devotions
When Scripture wants to teach of God’s compassion, guidance, and care for His people, it uses the familiar metaphor of a shepherd.
And, when Scripture wants to teach of God’s sovereignty and complete authority over His people, it uses the metaphor of a potter (one who fashions clay).
The prophet Jeremiah and the people of his time would have been very familiar with the process of a potter shaping clay. But, in Jeremiah 18, God commands Jeremiah to go and observe a potter with a fresh set of eyes…to look at the process with new intention. This time he was going to learn something about God.
So, Jeremiah goes to the potter’s house and observes Him working at his wheel (18:1-3). Now, we need to pay close attention to 3 characteristics of this potter (along with their analogies to God).
- The Potter is always working (v. 3). A professional potter is always at work fashioning clay. And, in this life, God as our spiritual Potter, is always at work fashioning you and me. He never stops, He never rests, and we are never complete until heaven. I think it is significant that there is no mention in this passage of a furnace. A furnace certainly would have been a part of the potter’s complex, and it was used to finish the clay/product. But, you and I are never, in a sense, put in the fire and “finished.” The process of forming the clay is the heart of this analogy. And that is what God, as our Potter, is busy doing in our lives.
- The Potter is always working…to make a useful vessel (v. 4a). Often, while shaping the clay, a defect would happen. Now, in the analogy here, the defect was not due to the potter’s lack of skill. Rather, the defect was because something was wrong with the clay. But, the potter did not gather up the clay and throw it outside. Instead, he patiently rolled the clay back into a lump, started over, and shaped it again until it was useful. God has no intention of saving you without making you useful for His service. All of His work on you is for a purpose – to fashion you into something of use. And He is patient with us to make of us a useful vessel (just like He was patient with King David, Peter, and Paul)! How can this not remind us of the promise in Phil 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
- The Potter is always working to make a useful vessel…according to His point of view (v. 4b). The apostle Paul asked the provocative question in Romans 9:20, “Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay?” A potter shapes a lump of clay according to his desires. He never asks the clay for suggestions. But, how often are we guilty of ingratitude for the way that God has fashioned us or the path that God has chosen for us? We become resistant and unmoldable…spoiled in the hand of the Potter. We would do well to accept His hand on our lives and align ourselves with His purposes. Now, this is not always easy because for some of you God has measured out hardship, or difficulty, or loss. That is the shape of your vessel. But, we must trust that His hand is good and that He does only what is good for His vessels! Oh, that we would be a willing clay in the Potter’s good hand! May we be the kind of clay that invites the hands of the Potter onto our lives.
So, here is a probing question…are there any points of your life right now where you are resisting the hand of the Potter? Is He nudging or pressing an area of your life (through Scripture, sermons, friend’s counsel, the Spirit’s gentle leading, etc.), but you are unwilling to conform? Let me exhort you – submit to Him before His hands must rework you. You don’t want that. The Potter’s way is good. Trust Him and let Him fashion you into a useful vessel for His glory and the glory of your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Alive-2-Christ,
Kendall
3 Comments so far
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Very good meditation a blessing to my life
Comment by Tania August 12, 2010 @ 8:40 amvery wonderful
Comment by ronald murila September 12, 2010 @ 6:28 amand am planning to share it with a congregation
before now i’ve been tring to write a book on the potter. now i have braod view.
Comment by OLUSINA January 10, 2011 @ 2:29 pm