“So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him”. Jeremiah 18:3-4
This was a day in the life of Jeremiah, a prophet of God who for forty years had the unenviable assignment of warning the unrepentant nation of Judah of the impending judgment of God. On a number of occasions, God made him act out His message to the people of Judah to get their attention. On this occasion, God told him to go down to a potter’s house, where he observed a potter who worked at the wheel, shaping a pot out of clay. On the day of Jeremiah’s visit, he observed that what was in the hand of the potter was an imperfect pot, (described as marred). Rather than discard it, the potter shaped it into another pot.
The scripture speaks of pots and wheels and a potter, but the lesson for the people of Judah can apply to you, your life ,which is sometimes so marred by life’s choices (including very poor ones), that you consider that it has lost value, that perhaps it is destined to remain marred, waiting for destruction.
The story of Jeremiah at the potter’s house, can be your story, and this is the starting point: know that Jesus Christ came into this world, not to condemn the world – as a judge would for wrongdoing – but to save us, and cause us to live victorious lives, free from the power and guilt of the sin that separates us from God. That is His personal ministry to you.
Are you in a good place in your life? If after some introspection, you can admit that you are not, then it is time to consider this: Is that where you wish to be, or to remain?
Do you consider that you have strayed so far from God and what you know to be his moral standards, that there does not appear to be any route to redemption?
Are you thinking (or do you believe) that perhaps the cost of righting your course may be too high?
What if I told you that the very high cost of returning you to the missed path, has already been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross, and that He offers you a hand, waiting for you to permit Him to reshape the pot, which is your life?
How often have you heard from the GPS in your car: “…recalculating…” when you have taken a wrong turn?
Like the potter whose work of reshaping Jeremiah observed, the GPS reroutes you, sometimes using routes you would not choose, including winding roads, to get you to your destination.
The GPS does not stop directing because you got it wrong, it redirects you so that you can get it right.
Jesus who gave His life for you, does no less.
In Psalm 139:8-10 is a very reassuring verse of scripture:
“…if I make my bed in the depths, you are there… If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea… even there your hand will guide me.”
This scripture [with emphasis added], was once my lifeline in a time of great anxiety. Peace came with the understanding that even my poor choices would not stop His loving eye or guiding hand.
Do not believe the lie that you are too far gone to change course. You can.
If you already profess a relationship with Jesus but find that you have lost your way or moved out of His will, you can return to the missed road. The good news is that it does not depend on your own effort, but it does require your willingness to allow Jesus into your life. He promises to give you all that you need for life, and for godliness. He will cause you to live at peace with yourself and with God.
Note that the scripture said: “shaping it as seemed best to him”. That means God will produce a new work that is good, not second class, not Plan B, but a new Plan A for all His plans are optimum. The Bible has examples of God rerouting a life in a seeming abyss into purposefulness. I call to mind Moses the one who fled his ‘native’ land of Egypt for committing murder. The clay was moulded into the formidable leader completely committed to the purpose of God, emptied of his own self-importance and saviour mentality, useful to the Master Potter.
As you yield the reins of your life to Him, whatever degree of “marring” there is, hold fast to this truth in Psalm 119:68: “You are good and do only good…”
Will you trust the One who does only what is good to recalculate, and will you permit the redirecting, the rerouting?
The pot had to be in the hand of the potter, for the potter to do His work.
