The Potter and the Clay
Jeremiah 18:1-12
(vs. 1-11) The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
(v. 12) “But they say, ‘It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.”
So often we read our favorite scriptures and don’t bother to read the surrounding passages. One of my daily devotionals was like that; the story of the potter in Jeremiah. Verses 1-11 are familiar and comfortable. God is in charge and there is an implication he can change his mind. It is comfortable because I am not involved in the story. It doesn’t ask anything of me and may suggest that it is no use in questioning God.
Verses 1-11 are included in the lectionary, but not verse 12. I also note that God’s message to Jeremiah is about the nations of Israel and Judah and not about individuals. But when I read verse 12, which has the curse which comes with the warning in verse 11, I struggle to see what I might be doing that needs to be different to be in accordance with what God is doing with my life.
But God isn’t talking to me, but to the whole faith community. Not just to the nation of Judah but to us, each of us and all of us at First Presbyterian Church of Marysville. Are we more interested in how we can get God to approve our plans, or are we actively trying to discern what God has for us to do at this little corner of his kingdom?
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