God is revealed or described to us in the Bible in many different figures and images. I think that is done by the working of the Holy Spirit through various individuals because the Spirit knew that mortals alone could not do it. But also, God because of His nature and His Divine being leaves us speechless to the point that human language is actually inadequate; you really do not know what to say about Him as God. Now to the skeptics, the agnostics, the atheists, or non-believer that statement makes no sense. It’s an affront to the intellect to say that, but when you are a faith person, you just believe that He is, and the faith is not predicated on my intellect or your reasoning, faith is predicated on faith. That is why faith can not be solely rooted on the intellect, because when you try to articulate and rationalize God and faith from the standpoint of knowledge, based on mental facts, it just does not add up. Faith is about knowledge, but knowledge based on a conviction, a convincing, and a conversion that there is a God. So this book that we call the Bible gives God images, analogies, figures that help us to see Him or appreciate better.
One of the images we see in the scriptures about God is that He is a Creator (maker), that image actually as you know is the first image we get of God out of Genesis. And the context of that is, He is a maker who made something with nothing to begin with or build upon. He is the kind of maker that creates out of nothing something. That was Paul’s argument about God to the Athenians in Acts 17:24: God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
God is also called the Lord of hosts, Amos 4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. That idea gives us an image of a God who is backed by a battalion or a regiment of celestial beings that are under his charge.
In Isaiah chapter 6:1, In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, that verse recalls the vision of Isaiah when he encountered God. The image depicts God as regal, royal, and redemptive in a setting that affirms not just the glory of God but His greatness. As Moses desired to behold God, God conveyed to him that human eyes could not experience Him in its totality, so God hid Moses in the cleft of the mountain and allowed him to get only a glimpse of the glory of God from the rear. This image of God gives us the idea of a holiness that humanness could not experience. In the stories of the chosen people of Israel, we get an image of a God who protects (fire behind the camp), provides (manna and water from a rock), and is constantly present (cloud by day and an Ark in their midst).
The Old Testament is filled with wonderful and meaningful images that try to help us see God at the level we need to see Him. And might I add, every believer who grows up in God should have some point of personal reference of who God is to you and how He is envisioned by you in accordance with the Word of God and your walk with Him. Your point and reference of who God is becomes the mainstay for you and your faith, it becomes that which helps you cling and claim the God of your faith.
This passage before us today is certainly one of the most powerful images of God, and personally, one of the images that is the magnet of meaning and ministry to me at this juncture of my own faith walk. It’s the image that keeps me rooted in my own sense of faith; it’s the image that really helps me to praise Him more in my own way of praise. It’s the image that actually reminds me of me for me, and at the same times it reminds me of what God has done and continues to do in me and with me. It really reminds me of something very glorious about Him. Perhaps you just might get a better appreciation of God and you if you hear the words of verses again:
Jeremiah 18:4 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.
Jeremiah 18:6 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.
Jeremiah is God’s prophet, and he has been commissioned by God to forewarn Israel that they were on a collision course for pain, problems, and punishment.
Jeremiah 1:13-15 And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. 14 Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Jeremiah 2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Jeremiah 4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. (But Israel did not hear, they would not obey, they remain stubborn).
Jeremiah 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Israel would end up as captives of the Babylonians for 70 years. Daniel, the Hebrew boys as we have come to know them, Ezekiel, Ezra, are some of the most notables were there.
But even though they were doomed and destined for disaster by their own decisions, and they experience defeat by the army. God gave Jeremiah a parable of promise and a parable of hope for himself and Israel. There are lessons we learn from this rich story about God.
Jeremiah obeys God’s command to make a visit to the potter’s house, and there he would hear a word from God at the potter’s house. Sometimes you just have to have faith and do what God wants you to do, and hear what God wants to say. And when God is speaking, you need to have ears to hear Him, and to know that God is speaking.
You know that is really what faith is, it’s hearing and doing, it’s worship and witnessing, it’s receiving and giving, it’s conversion and commitment. That is what faith really is. Jeremiah makes the trip to the house, not knowing what to expect, not even expecting such an over powering message.
It’s in verse 3-4a where the first lesson is learned:
Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:
I. The Clay was Marred: (ruined, corrupt)
(The Path of Life Sometimes gets Spoiled by the Unexpected.)
It was not the potters fault; it was not the (wheel) instrument’s fault. It was something in the clay that got in the way of what the potter was making.
The potter had a plan for that clay!
The potter had a purpose for that clay!
The potter had a place on his instrument for that clay!
A. The problem was the clay would not yield.
B. That our problems as humans, as Christians, as a church we just will not yield to His plan, His purpose, and the place that God have a designed for us.
The Apostle Paul in his on words admits that he had a clay problem in:
Romans 7:18-20: For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) nothing good dwell; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
So often, our greatest problems are not those from without that corrupts us, that ruins us, or spoils God’s purpose in us, it’s that from within. It is our decision to have our own way. It is our choice to usurp the will of God with our own will.
God shows us the high road, we choose the low road. He brings us to the light, and we will choose to walk in the darkness. He gives us the tools of forgiveness, and we reject them because of stubbornness and our need to be in control.
It’s a clay problem, the clay exercising its freedom without realizing the consequences.
Jonah had a clay problem; God calls him and assigns him a task to go to Nineveh and be a witness, but he decided to do what he wanted to do. The clay of Jonah got in the way.
Adam and Eve had a clay problem, God had designed a place, a purpose, and plan, but the clay got in the way.
The clay causes us to get off track, the clay causes us to reject God’s plan, the clay cause us to detour.
II. This Clay was in the hands of the Potter!
(The potter is present to handle our paths when life is spoiled.)
(It was marred in the hands of the potter, so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make vs.4)
That’s my grace, that’s my salvation, that’s my joy, and it’s yours too if you are God’s clay. I am (you are) in the hands of the potter! His hand is upon me!
Spoiled but in His hands!
Corrupt but in His hands!
Ruined but in His hands!
Broken but in His hands!
Mistakes but in His hands!
Failed but in His hands!
Fumbled the ball, but He lets me stay in the game! But in His hands (still on the team)!
Guilty but in His hands!
Scarred from life skirmishes, but in His hands!
Bruised but in His hands!
Beaten but in His hands!
Battered but in His hands!
Burned by flames of failures, but in His hands!
God as the potter is:
1. He is faithful to forgives us!
2. He is more than willing to restore us!!
3. He is there to pick us up when we fall!!
4. He is patient!
Just like the father in the story of the prodigal son, He waits for us, to come to our senses, and to make the journey back to where we belong.
Abraham was placed on the wheel of purpose! God told him that He would make his name great, make him the father of many nations, and give him a land of his own. But he became marred; he lied about Sarah for his own protection. Then he could not wait on God and got ahead of what God wanted to do and had a son by his wife’s handmaid. Marred! Ruined! Messed up!
But he was in God’s hands! God started over again!
David was on the wheel of place and position, anointed to be king! The spirit of God with him! But he encounters a Bathsheba! Marred! Ruined!! Mistakes! Sin! Murderer!!!
But he was in God’s hands!! He asks that God would create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit!
The apostle Peter was in the great plan of Christ, made it to the inner circle! But denied him!! Disowned Christ!!! Marred! Messed up!!!
The potter did not give up on the clay, and the potter continues not to give up on you and I. He keeps us on the wheel; He keeps trying to do something with this clay.
III. The Clay gets (a divine invitation) Remade by the Potter!
O, house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? Says the Lord. Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
The potter does not disregard the clay!
The potter does not scrap the clay!
The potter does not say you are useless!
The potter says you are usable if you let me keep you on the wheel!
Let me keep my hands on you!
Let me keep fashioning you into being what I know you can be!
Let me keep molding you with my will, let me keep shaping you with my grace, let me keep stretching you!
THE STORY OF THE TEA CUP!!!!!!!
When Life seems Hard — The Teacup story
April 5, 2009 by lifelessons4u
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
In life we will all face trials and tribulations. My response to the above quote was “Make me stronger for what? So I can deal with something worse? No thank you. I’m having a hard enough time dealing with this.” Anyone else feel this way? Well several years ago I came across the story of “The Teacup.” No, it didn’t make the trials any easier but it does offer a perspective on them. No matter what your religious affiliation, I think you can appreciate this story.
Teacup Story
There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked “May we see that? We’ve never seen a cup quite so beautiful.”
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, “You don’t understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, ‘Don’t do that. I don’t like it! Let me alone.’ But he only smiled, and gently said, ‘Not yet!’” “Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. ‘Stop it! I’m getting so dizzy! I’m going to be sick,’ I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly, ‘Not yet.’”
“He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then… Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. Help! Get me out of here! I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, ‘Not yet.’”
“When I thought I couldn’t bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Oh, please, Stop it, Stop it!’ I cried. He only shook his head and said. ‘Not yet!’”
“Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited ——- and waited, wondering “What’s he going to do to me next?” An hour later he handed me a mirror and said ‘Look at yourself.’ “And I did. I said, ‘That’s not me, that couldn’t be me. It’s beautiful. I’m beautiful!’”
Quietly he spoke: ‘I want you to remember,’ then he said, “I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”
The moral of this story is this: God knows what He’s doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.
So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to “stink”, try this….
Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest teacup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk
