The Potter and the Clay

The Potter and the Clay

 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, ² “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” ³ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. ⁴ But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ⁶ “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; ⁸ if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. ⁹ Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. (Jeremiah 18)

Someone said to me the other day, “Well God does change His mind, you know, and I’m going to pray that He does.”  Here is a Scripture that seems to back up that statement, and God is just, fair and right in all He does in our lives as individuals, and as a community.  We, too, are like clay in the Potter’s hand, in God’s hand.  I once was that spoiled vessel in the hand of God; and in love, He crushed me, softened me with His  correction, and remade me into the woman I am today.  I was not grateful at the time of Great Trial in my life, but I am O so thankful now.  God’s love is a Great love, the Best love, but it is not some kind of mushy-gushy shallow love.  God loves us deeper into maturity, deeper into humility, deeper into the peace that passes understanding.   If you are going through a time of Great Trial right now, perhaps Our Precious God is trying to love you, by remaking you into a vessel of Beauty and Grace, a useful vessel, to bless the world.  So yield to His touch, His molding, no matter how painful it may seem.  For when He has tried You, you shall come forth as gold,  I am living proof.