(Thank God I’m Still In His Hands)

Jeremiah 18:1-6 (KJV)

1 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.

Very briefly I want to reason with you on the thought

(Thank God I’m still in his Hands)

In the text before us

The spirit of the Lord drives Jeremiah down to the potter's house.

To see a parable in action.

A parable in deeds and not in words.

Because when you examine the text,

You will Discover that no words are ever spoken.

Between the prophet and the potter.

Notice ---Notice -- Notice

Because Jeremiah stood, he watched, and then he went away.

And God gives him a word.

Not from a sanctuary, but from a shop.

Not from the holy book, but human. Hands,

Not From a commentary, but from a lump of clay.

In other words

He stands outside of the potter's house.

And if you would allow me to use my sanctified imagination

Perhap he`s peeping through the window.

And as he watches the potter takes this shapeless lump of clay,

Places it on the wheel and begins working with it.

And as Vessel begins to emerge and perhaps almost finish.

The trained eye of the potter sees or with his hands, feels and detects some flaw in the vessel.

Jeremiah perhaps thought he would just take It and fling it aside and reach Into his bucket and pull out another lump of clay.

But instead the potter breaks it.

Smashes it,

And places it on the wheel and begins to wrought another work.

And he works with the lump of clay until the vessel is pleasing and acceptable to the potter

Because in the fabric of the text

There's a word here about the purpose in the mind of the potter.

Because The potter has a picture of the Finished product in his mind before he ever began.

You see

The clay was just a handful of Ugliness when he laid it on the wheel.

But it reminds us that there resided In the clay the possibility of becoming.

It was just a piece of ugliness when he started,

But there was purpose in the mind of the potter, so that the clay had the possibility of becoming.

And God's word for us this morning/evening is that God sees in you the potential to becoming a vessel of honor.

And I don't know where you think you are this morning/evening .

But the truth is we're all in the process of becoming.

Because there are times when we concentrate so much on overcoming that we lose sight on who we are becoming

The clay was just a piece of ugliness.

But in it resides the possibility of Becoming

Which suggest to us that we all in the potter's hand.

And have you ever thought about what if your situation was in somebody else`s hands

They would have thrown us away along time ago

Even though some tried but they couldn’t

Because we`re still in the potters hands

And God is not through with us yet

And I don`t know who I’m talking to

Or what`s going on in your life

I don`t know what your family and friends have told you

OR what your Doctor is saying

But you ought to wave your hands in the air and shake it like you just don`t care

And look toward Heaven and say –Thank God I’m still in your hands

(2nd point)

Well not only does the potter has a purpose in mind

But the text also reveals the purpose and the pressure of the potter`s hands

Because it is the purpose and pressure of the potters hands that mold our lives as well shapes our lives

Because God wants to work through us

And before God can work through us

He first has to work on us and in us

And God knows what he`s doing

And God is not intimidated by the clay, no matter where he finds it or how flawed it is when he find it

Because there are times when God has to mold us with His mighty hands

You see

It was in the darkness of the night that God molded Jacob as he wrestles with and angel at Jabbok