LEARNING DAILY

 

Jeremiah 18:3-4, Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.  And the vessel that he had 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.

 

Jeremiah watched a potter forming a vessel out of clay; however, there was something wrong with the vessel and it was not suitable for the use the potter had intended for it. The potter did not destroy the clay and throw it away. Instead, it was reworked, remolded into something different, “another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make”.

 

This is an interesting parable about the God as Creator and His Sovereignty over His creation – over nations and individuals. He has sovereignty over our lives as the potter does the clay. It is important to remember Jeremiah’s message to the people of Judah; they were repent of their idol worship and return to following God. Jeremiah’s visit to the potter was to be a sign to them that they still had an opportunity to turn from their sins in order to be spared the judgment he was warning them was coming. In line with the parable, Jeremiah was seeing that the Lord’s desire was to refashion, reshape His people into “another vessel” He could use for His honor. He did not want to destroy them.

 

This parable has several important principles you and I can apply to our lives. First, what God can do with us, how He uses us is determined by how much we are willing to submit to Him. The Lord wants to shape us into people who serve him, not as robots, but as people who willingly follow Him and are obedient to His Word – those who walk on the narrow road or way. That begins with repenting of evil and accepting His offer of forgiveness through the cross. My friend, Bill Smith, has written, “Jeremiah also saw God’s sovereignty is tempered by His mercy and patience.  In view here is God’s right to change His will concerning a people in response to their behavior. If they should repent of evil, He has the right to forgive. If they do wickedness and refuse to repent, He has the right to withdraw blessings” (2 Samuel 12:8).

 

A second thought in this parable is that God can change what He has planned for our lives.  His plan for us is goodness and blessings. But, if we rebel by doing what we want, living a life of sin and idolatry, He may then shape us into vessels for destruction. To keep from that, we repent and God will make us into a vessel of honor and blessing.

 

So it is with individuals, so it is with nations. “If a nation repents of its evil, God will alter His response to that nation. We can be sure that if we obey, He will bless, if we disobey, He will punish. When we change, God can change His actions toward us without compromising His sovereignty or holiness” (Bill Smith).

 

Obviously, each of us need to continually evaluate our walk with the Lord, repenting of those things we do that the Lord does not approve of in order to walk on the narrow way. I wonder about our nation. Do you think that as a nation true repentance will happen?