Jer 18:1-10 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; 8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Jeremiah is instructed to go down and observe what was taking place at the potter's house. He noted the following:
1. A lump of clay is being formed into a vessel
2. The vessel is marred
3. The potter does not discard the lump
4. He pounds it back into a shapeless lump and throws it back on the wheel
5. He made it again: the same clay, the same potter, the same wheel.
6. He makes it into another vessel
7. He made it as he see fit.
It is to be noted that the clay was being
1. Made into something,
2. Then pounded into nothing,
3. Then made again into something.
Lessons from the potter's house.
1. We are like lumps of clay but whereas the clay is inanimate we are creatures with will to decide.
2. God is the Potter! He makes us, or plans to make us into what He sees fit.
4. When we are rebellious and unyielded, He pushes us into a lump again:
i. shapeless - loss of individuality
ii. pounded – various trials, tribulations and suffering
iii. worked into a useful pliable lump - brought to the state where we are finally yielded.
iv. made afresh into a new vessel...not as I want but as He sees fit!
What caused the vessel to be marred?
1. A slip of the potter's hand? Man's hands may slip but remember God's hands does not slip. He does not makes mistakes!
2. A defect in the clay? Yes that's it!
What are our lives in the hand of God? It is like clay that He moulds and forms as He sees fit. The Lord sees you as a prime lump of clay that has to be made into a useful vessel. It is the responsibility of the believer, as clay, to be pliable and workable in His hands. The more we are yielded to God the better He is able to work with us.
There may come times in your life when you feel like you're something. Then things happen and you feel like nothing but in due process you are remade into something as He sees fit according to His good pleasure.
When we sing 'Thou art the potter I am the clay', what do we visualize ourselves as clay to be?
1. AS CLAY IN HIS HANDS WE NEED TO BE SOFT AND PLIABLE.
God can then mould and shape us as he desires. the plan for our lives is in His mind. He desires to work out that plan in our lives. The degree of submission we exhibit will determine how well we can be confirmed to His will and be transformed into His image. Hard clay cannot be moulded unless it is broken up finely, moistened and kneaded into a soft pliable workable lump. There will be a lot of travail and intercession on our part but it is necessary to accomplish the final product…Christ in us!
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Rom 12:1-5 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Isa 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
Rom 9:20-21 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
2. AS CLAY IN HIS HANDS WE NEED TO BE FREE OF HIDDEN POCKETS OF AIR
Air may expand and explode during the firing process destroying the vessel and others in the process. Similarly we can under stress explode and destroy ourselves as well as those close to us! That's why we need to be submissive to the pounding that will squash all those hidden pockets of air out of us making us into a pure and pliable piece of clay ready to be worked by the Master.
Many of us become like a blowfish, puffed up and dangerous with our own self importance. We care not who we destroy in the process because we will have our way. Like Pharaoh vs Yahweh!
We need to allow God to deal with us in such a manner that will effectively free us from ourselves.
1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
1Co 5:1-2 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 8:1-2 ... Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
Pride is anathema to the Lord! He hates it and will resist it!
Jas 4:1-12 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
3. AS CLAY IN HIS HANDS WE NEED TO BE FREE OF HARD PARTICLES OR FOREIGN OBJECTS.
Such objects will interfere with the smooth working of the clay and when encountered by the potter's hand will mar the vessel. It is important for the life of the individual to be free of defect producing objects and we therefore need to submit to His dealings as He removes the obstacles we have embedded in our lives that disrupt the process of God's dealings in us. Some of us have allowed others to embed these objects while we have willingly allowed it, also doing some embedding ourselves. If we will be a workable lump of clay in the Hands of the Master Potter we need to submit to His dealings with us.
Stubbornness and resistance to the will of God will only bring grief to us.
Rom 6:11-13 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
What may be a petty and minor irritant to one person is generally a serious matter to another. A physical defect in one may be a life sentence in another.
The prodigal lump in Luke 15 finally said "make me" I will no longer make myself. At the time that you release control of yourself to God, at that time He is able to take you, work with you and make you into a vessel fit for the Master's use.
Moses was a self made man that was made into a shapeless lump in Midian then reformed into a leader and a liberator.
Jacob was an independent self made man. He was glad for the blessings but not the testing. His victory came when his independence was broken!
Peter went from Master fisher to Master's fisher
NOTE: He did not throw the clay away! Many of us may think we have gone past the point of no return and God cannot use us anymore. We should not limit God to our own inabilities and shortcomings. He is able to remake you into a vessel as He sees fit once you submit to him. It may not be what you planned but as you yield to Him it will be something that pleases Him. He does not throw up His hands and give up in despair. He will never let go!
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
2Co 4:1-7 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
