On the Potter wheel
Jeremiah chapter 18:1-18:6
Introduction-
Turn in your Bible to the book of Jeremiah chapter 18:1-18:6.
This is a classic passage in the Bible where God reveals how He deals with human lives.
God is the potter and we are the clay.
We are on the wheel and God is shaping us into the individual vessels that He wants us to become.
We are clay in the potter’s hands.
This is, and should be, a humbling thought. However, we often think of ourselves as much more than ordinary clay. Fact is, sometimes we don’t even think of ourselves as clay at all. Instead, we see ourselves more in the role of the potter than the clay.
Jeremiah chapter 18:1-18:6
There is a visual here; we see the prophet Jeremiah receiving instructions from the Lord.
(2) “Go down to the potters house, and there I will give you my message.”
He is to go to the potters house (observe him) and God will give him further instructions.
Jeremiah was sensitive to the voice of God and was obedient to God.
He went to the potters house, observes him in action, doing what potters do…He was making pottery, and observed that the pottery He was making was “mired in His hands”
The Hebrew word mired translated is “ruined.”
The prophet observed that the pottery was ruined and in the hands of the potter.
The prophet sees the potter take the ruined piece of pottery and shape it into another pot, “as seemed best to him.”
We do not know how long Jeremiah was at the potter’s house, but we know that he watched the potter and waited for God to speak to him.
How many times when God wants us to watch and wait do we get impatient and miss the opportunity for God to give us his message?
Before we can grasp what is being said here, we cannot take this out of context. God is speaking to unrepentant Israel and desires to show them that they need to repent and listen to God’s prophet Jeremiah and allow God to be in their lives.
(12) Was there response-
“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.”
The principal God was showing Jeremiah for the nation of Israel can also be adapted to our lives individually because God desires to shape our lives also.
We sing the song of the Masters Hand.
“Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way, thou are the potter and I am the clay, mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still.”
There are two responses to God wanting to work in our lives.
1. We stay on the potter’s wheel and allow God to do what is needed in our lives.
2. We jump off the potter’s wheel and forbid God to mold our lives.
Which one are you? You have to be one of them.
Let’s start with the one that jumps off the wheel and doesn’t allow God to shape their lives.
You will never stay on the molding wheel of God if you first do not understand God’s role and your role. God is the potter and we are the clay.
You don’t realize that truth and you will struggle to stay on God’s wheel.
Romans 9:20-21
“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some for noble purposes and some for common use.”
God is not telling us that we shouldn’t have questions. He is not silencing us when it comes to us knowing God’s plans for us. He is speaking to those that have a god-defying attitude who wants to make God answerable to them for what He does and who by their questions defame the character of God.
Ask your questions, but understand who you are talking too! Almighty God, Creator. The analogy of potter and clay is to show us that God has a purpose for us and will make something beautiful of our lives if we will let Him. By the freedom He has given us, we have a choice weather we will allow Him to mold us and make us that creative and original pot.
No one can call God to account for what He does. God shows great patience towards us- even in our rebellion. His patience is to bring us to repentance just like He tried to do with the nation of Israel.
Clay is useless, shapeless, and has no purpose until someone takes it and gives it purpose, beauty, and shape.
Illustration- (SermonCentral)
A person awoke one morning to find a puddle of water in the middle of his king-size waterbed. In order to fix the puncture, he rolled the heavy mattress outdoors and filled it with more water so he could locate the leak more easily. The enormous bag of water was impossible to control and began rolling on the hilly terrain. He tried to hold it back, but it headed downhill and landed in a clump of bushes that poked it full of holes. Disgusted, he threw out the waterbed frame and moved a standard bed into his room. The next morning, he awoke to find a puddle of water in the middle of the new bed. The upstairs bathroom had a leaky drain.
We are trying to solve the wrong problem.
Jumping off the work bench we think God is the problem. God is not the problem. We are.
God made a big investment in each of us.
He provides the material, the patience, the skill, and the precision to make us a masterpiece.
As long as we are under construction, we are becoming the person God intends us to be.
The Bible says the pot was mired, was ruined, it was flawed, it was defective. It does not say the potter was flawed, or that the potter ruined the clay. He was there to make us beautiful.
Some of us have willfully gotten off the wheel when we were half finished because we are mad at God, or God told us “no” and now we are fighting him for spiritual ownership.
I would encourage you to reconsider.
God promised that if we continue to rebel there would be judgment.
Some have felt the hand of God redirecting and have said no.
God is patient, but he deals swiftly with rebellion.
The clay may be mired but it is never rejected.
It is not too late. God never throws the clay out. Praise the Lord!
He can fix it. He can take what is broken and make it better than ever!
The second response is the person that stays on the wheel of the potter.
What can we expect from God?
God is the God of the second chances.
God is the God that can take something broken and hurt and make it beautiful and healthy.
Just like God told Israel that he has the privilege and freedom to reshape them to His sovereign will. He can do that for each one of us.
He can take something broken and make it new. Amen.
God specializes in repairing cracked pots and He can deal with crack pots. (repeat) So why wouldn’t we let Him?
The potter’s wheel was pedaled by his feet and the small wheel turned the clay to be molded into shape. Without the effort of the potter the clay could never amount to anything.
The clay if it could talk would never tell how much effort that the potter puts into his creation because it happens out of sight.
Just because we don’t see something happening at the moment does not mean God is not doing something.
The final phase of His working on us is found in verse 4 “shaping it as seemed best to Him.”
Some people have some broken pieces that need to be put back together again. The circumstances seem dim, but God does his best work when we think it is impossible.
This week Robin Williams lost his battle to depression, to losing all hope.
One person said how can someone who had over 50 million dollars be depressed and without hope. Money won’t fix it. God wants to repair and give us hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
God has not forgotten us, or wanting us to find our own way. He wants to be a part of our lives and make us something beautiful. Even right now if we feel broken and worthless.
Listen o me, I am winding down,
“Under construction”
“God at Work”
“God is not finished with me yet”
For some, it is starting with a lump of clay and saying, God here I am! Do what you need to do. That ugly piece of clay is on the wheel and God is spinning you and making you into something new.
The process is painful because you cannot right now see the end result.
He is getting the cracks out.
He is applying pressure and you don’t like it.
He is working out the imperfections and it is painful.
He’s putting water on you because you are dry, or too hot or cold. You don’t like change.
Hang in there! It’s painful now, but the end result will be amazing.
Nobody can see what goes on inside the kiln- that is why they call it faith.
Nobody likes pressure, friction, that is why you have to trust Him.
Are you broken and bent this morning?
Will you allow God to shape you this morning?
Have you ever wanted a second chance? Let God give you a new beginning.
God is the potter
We are the clay
Life is the wheel, and God can work it all out for you today. It is a process and it can begin today.
“Be patient, God is not finished with you yet”
Amen.
