Week Twenty-Four, 2017

So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 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. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. – Jeremiah 18:3-7

Jeremiah went to the potter’s house and saw him working at his wheel, but what he was making was flawed, so the potter crushed it and used the clay to start again. This time the potter make a beautiful work of art.

Life is like being on the potter’s wheel. God gives us the clay, but often we trip up and our life is marred. He has a beautiful plan and purpose for every life. The plan can become flawed when we trip up by making the wrong choices.

But, the good news is that He will renew any life when we put our lives on the potter’s wheel. With God, failure is not final. We all need to repent and allow God to put us back on the potter’s wheel. He will make you a vessel of beauty regardless of how marred our past may be.

Through the visit to the potter’s house God spoke to Jeremiah and to all of Israel, reminding them of His sovereign right to do what He pleased with a marred or seemingly uncooperative vessel. The illustration at the potter’s house did not only demonstrate God’s right to display judgment, but also His right to display mercy. He was free to work with a previously marred vessel if He chose to do so. Yet He was also free to take back good He had done to a nation if they did evil in His sight.

Aren’t you glad that we serve the God of a second chance?