Clay in the Potters Hands

How often have we started a project with good intentions - painting, woodworking, puzzles, etc and find ourselves becoming frustrated or bored within a short period of time? I remember as a young child I decided I wanted a small pottery wheel so I could try my hand at pottery. Every time I watched the potter at Dollywood, it seemed effortless. Place clay on the wheel, get it spinning, dip your hands in the water, and just mold that lump of clay into whatever shape, form, or fashion you want it to be. Cup, bowl, vase, pitcher, it all looked so easy. Until…I tried it myself.

My grandparents got me a small battery operated pottery wheel for kids at Christmas. I can remember kneading the clay, placing it on the wheel, turning the wheel on…and it was out of center. Started shaking, and slung the clay right off the wheel. Second try was a little more centered and it would work…I thought. I put my hands into the water and placed the on the clay, trying to push it so it would center and…the wheel stopped. Flat out stopped! No spinning, no shaping, no nothing. I had placed too much pressure on the clay and the wheel would not turn. I finally figured out less pressure would keep it moving. More water…less pressure…I finally had the clay centered. Some time later, I had a wet glob of clay on the wheel that kind of resembled a bowl and when I cut the clay to remove it…I had gotten the sides too thin and as I picked up on the bowl the sides collapsed. It was ruined. I was frustrated. That was the last time I tried to be a potter.

The older I get, the more I have realized that the clay had potential. The clay, in the right hands, could be made into something. In the hands of a master, that clay could be something wonderful and useful. In the hands of an inexperienced novice, all that was created was a mess.

During the time of Jeremiah, the nation of Israel were experimenting as a novice potter. They had the master potter trying to guide them, teach them, turn them into masters themselves…but they refused to listen. As a matter of fact, they were continuing to make a mess…and trying to pass it off as a masterpiece. As a result of their disobedience, Judah and Israel were taken captive by Babylon. And still, despite warnings, the kings and the people chose to disobey God. They had broken the covenant God had made with them, and were facing punishment for their sin. But, God offered a way for restoration. You see, God always offers a way for restoration! Regardless of our sin, and yes even though we are punished, God still offers restoration! In Jeremiah 18, we find God using the illustration of a potter who, when the pot had become defective, was restored and became useful.

Potters House

Jeremiah 18:1–4 ESV

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

God was getting ready to show Jeremiah a special message for Judah and instructed him to go to the potter’s house.

When Jeremiah arrived at the potter’s house, he saw him working at the wheel, attempting to mold the clay into a jar. Turning the bottom wheel with his feet, the potter worked the clay on the top wheel as it turned. All of a sudden the potter noticed a defect, a flaw in the jar. It had not turned out as he had hoped. So the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again. Patiently, he worked and reworked the clay time and again until he had formed the jar he wanted.

God had judged Israel because of their sin and rejection of Him. That was the defect! You see, Israel was the clay jar that had been found to have a flaw. God had built up a great nation. He had formed and molded it into what He thought would be the perfect vessel. But as He is molding them, He notices a flaw. God did not overlook the flaw, regardless of how small or large it was. God knew the flaw would never fix itself. He knew the flaw would cause a catastrophic failure at some point in time, especially if it was allowed to go through the kiln. But the flaw did not mean the clay was useless. It took the hand of the master to start over and form it in a way that would be pleasing to Him.

As a result, the master potter started over with that clay, remolded it, and made it into something useful the same way God was remolding Israel and would make something useful.

Remolding Israel

Jeremiah 18:5–10 ESV

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.

When the jar was finished, the LORD explained that the potter and clay illustrated His relationship with His people. As the potter held the clay in his hands, so the LORD held His people in the palm of His hand. This is a descriptive way of saying that the LORD can do with His people as He wills. Holding them in His hands means that He possesses all rights and power over them. He can set up the laws that decide people’s fate (v. 6). But as God goes on to explain. He does not determine the fate of people on a whimsy or in an unfair or tyrannical way. Neither did God choose to create robots, machines that would automatically praise and serve Him. Rather, He chose to create living beings with a free will, the ability to choose either to worship Him or to reject Him. In His sovereign will and power, God established within people the law of free will. Furthermore, He established within the universe the law of repentance and salvation and the law of condemnation.

As stated above, God has the sovereign power to save and condemn as He chooses. But He does not save or condemn people in an arbitrary or dictatorial way. God is love, full of mercy and grace, and He always acts consistent with His nature. But God is also holy and demands that people live righteously. God has not created us as robots or machines that automatically cry out praises to His name. We are not lifeless pieces of machinery that automatically serve and worship Him. We are living creatures, created with a free will. We have the ability to choose or reject God. We can choose either to serve and worship Him or to deny Him. We can even choose to curse God or deny that He exists.

In His sovereign will and power, God has established the law of free will within people. Furthermore, He has established within the universe the law of condemnation and judgment. If we choose to turn away from God and have nothing to do with Him—if we alienate ourselves and live our lives separated from Him—we will continue living apart from Him right on through eternity. We will be eternally alienated from God, just as we have chosen. This is the law of condemnation and judgment that God has established by His sovereign right and power. This was the choice so many of the Israelites made in the days of Jeremiah, and, tragically, it is the choice that so many others have made down through the generations.

But to counteract this frightful law, God has also established the wonderful law of repentance and salvation. If we repent of our rejection of God—if we turn back in obedience and worship Him—He will forgive our sins. He will reconcile us to Himself and have fellowship with us. Furthermore, He promises that our fellowship with Him will continue right on through eternity. This is the law of repentance and salvation, established by the sovereign right and power of God. Through the sovereignty of God, we inherit eternal life.

If we will choose to repent of our sins, God will save us and give us eternal life.

Luke 13:3 ESV

3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

If we choose to reject and deny God, defying and cursing His Holy name, we will face His judgment and be condemned. But remember, God has given us an opportunity for restoration…if we repent.

Repent!

Jeremiah 18:11–17 ESV

11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ 12 “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’ 13 “Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing. 14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? 15 But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, 16 making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head. 17 Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity.”

God gave a warning. Repent, or face judgment. God was planning to judge the people of Jeremiah’s day for their evil ways. In fact, He was preparing a disaster for them. Only one hope remained for the people: repentance. Thus, God appealed to the people to turn away from their evil ways. In order to escape the coming judgment and disaster, they had to turn to the LORD and live righteously.

Even though God had given a stern warning, His people rejected Him. They were beyond repentance. They had gotten to the point they felt they had done no wrong. Even though the prophet was sent with a reminder warning, they also rejected Jeremiah. They were stubborn, they rejected God, they were acting irrational, and had become like any other pagan nation. Unlike the pagan nations, they were defiantly rejecting their God.

The LORD actually said the people were self-destructive (v. 15). They had forgotten the LORD and turned to useless idols, which caused them to stumble as they walked through life. The people had rejected the ancient paths of righteousness, the path of God’s Word and commandments. Choosing to follow the paths of false gods and false religions, they had chosen the roughest road they could possibly follow in life. The path of idolatry and false religion is not the one that leads to the life given and intended by God, but rather the path that leads to destruction.

The consequences of rejecting the LORD’s warning were to be very severe (vv. 16–17). His hand of judgment would fall, and the land of Judah would be destroyed. Judah and Jerusalem would be disgraced and become an object of scorn to all who passed by (v. 16). As if there were a mighty wind blowing from the east, the people would be scattered and exiled before an enemy invader (v. 17). And most tragic of all, because of the people’s sins, God in His righteousness would turn His back on them. They would be alienated from Him and cut off from His help.

In rejecting Jeremiah, they rejected God, and He would not allow it to go unpunished. He would be the master potter. He saw the flaw in the clay. He would not allow the flaw to stay, so He destroyed that vessel so He could remake a new vessel that was good in His sight and for His purpose.

Closing

God is not a tyrant who randomly chooses to save some people and condemn others. His sovereign right and power are governed both by His holy nature of love and mercy and by His holy nature of righteousness and justice. The LORD Himself explains the lesson of the potter, a lesson that should significantly help the reader understand the sovereignty of God. He has a standard that is expected of all Christians. He knows our flaws, and how they can be either character or weakness. He can destroy what He had made simply to reshape it and mold it into something useful.

For someone who may have never accepted Christ as their Savior, Are you willing to be molded by the Master?

For someone who may have stepped away from their faith, are you willing to be reshaped by the Master?

And, for those who have been molded into the shape God wants, are you willing to be used by the Master?