Jeremiah 18 contains two parts really. The first is the story and dialogue of another sign or symbol that God gives Jeremiah of His coming judgment on the people of Israel. Remember the first was the sign of the linen sash (which Jeremiah wore then buried in dirt, causing it to be worthless). On this occasion, God asks him to go down to the potter’s house, where he would hear the words of God:
‘Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he 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 18:3-4)
We can already see what God is going to say. God is the potter, and Israel are the clay. He may do with the clay as He pleases, and if that clay does not work into the right shape, the potter will push it all back into a ball and start again. Before you start thinking ‘but God isn’t like that! He loves us and won’t break us down if we do something wrong’, just remember who God is. Remember who you are. We are nothing. Truly, we are like clay in the hands of God, hands that can cover the universe and still wobble the smallest atom at His precise will. He does love us, but not because we are loveable. His love for us is like the potter’s love for the clay itself, which will form and reform it until it is perfect in the image that he wants it to be. That is God’s love for us. That is God’s love for Israel at this time.
‘ “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 instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.’ (Jeremiah 18:6-8)
The LORD has complete power. Let us not bring Him down to our realm. He has absolute and complete power, and will use it. The mightiest nation is plucked up instantly at His word. And yet He rewards our repentance. For if the clay is deforming and the potter is about to scrap it, but then it stops deforming, yielding to the potter’s hands, the potter need not destroy it, but can work with it to bring it to perfection.
This may make you feel small and insignificant and basically useless, this potter and clay analogy. But that is only because you are small and insignificant. The only strength you and I have is what God does with us. The only use we have is that which God appoints for us. So let’s not think too big of ourselves. Let us humble ourselves before God and let Him do as He wills with us.
The second part of the chapter tells us of a plot to destroy Jeremiah, because the people didn’t like what he said. Jeremiah prays for deliverance for Himself, and judgment on those who would kill him (in quite harsh words – read for yourself!). When God’s truth is spoken, there will be opposition. But remember, this same God who we abase ourselves before, and become like clay to the potter for, this same God holds us against this opposition, and holds us up. It is scary, the realization of our utter incompetence and insignificance. And yet it brings us the highest level of comfort and security because we know God is for us, and so who can be against us?
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