“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” (v.4)
Here in chapter 18, God instructed Jeremiah to go and watch a potter working at his wheel. As he watched the potter work, the soft clay became marred, so he smashed it and started over again. Perhaps there was a hard, foreign object in the clay that caused the marring, like a small pebble, or maybe the clay split; whatever the cause, the picture was clear. There was an imperfection, a sin, in the clay that damaged the vessel, even though it was still in the hand of the potter; so he had to break it down and start again.
God was showing Jeremiah a picture of how He works in our lives. We are created from the dust of the earth, and so we are quite literally like the clay in the potter’s hand. Clay is basically valueless until it is fashioned into something usable. And that’s why God, the Great Potter, is always at work in our lives. As the imperfections come to the surface, He reshapes us into something new, something of greater value, that He can use for His glory.
The Truth: “For we are God’s workmanship created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God created in advance as our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10)
Here in chapter 18, God instructed Jeremiah to go and watch a potter working at his wheel. As he watched the potter work, the soft clay became marred, so he smashed it and started over again. Perhaps there was a hard, foreign object in the clay that caused the marring, like a small pebble, or maybe the clay split; whatever the cause, the picture was clear. There was an imperfection, a sin, in the clay that damaged the vessel, even though it was still in the hand of the potter; so he had to break it down and start again.
God was showing Jeremiah a picture of how He works in our lives. We are created from the dust of the earth, and so we are quite literally like the clay in the potter’s hand. Clay is basically valueless until it is fashioned into something usable. And that’s why God, the Great Potter, is always at work in our lives. As the imperfections come to the surface, He reshapes us into something new, something of greater value, that He can use for His glory.
The Truth: “For we are God’s workmanship created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God created in advance as our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:10)
