In The Potter’s Hands Jeremiah 18:1—19 June 9, 2013

Thousands of years ago, God used the voice to the Prophet Jeremiah to call
God’s people to repentance and show them hope of a restored Israel. To
illustrate that land, He told Jeremiah to go down to a potter's house to see
how a potter works with clay.

Jeremiah did what he was told and went south of the City of Jerusalem,
through the Valley of Hinnom, past the place where the city dumped and
burned all of their garbage to the headquarters of the pottery industry.

Today, the potter works with clay just about the same way as the ancient
potter did thousands of years ago because clay is simply water and dust mixed
together. The potter takes this soft putty-like clay and throws it on a revolving
wheel. While that wheel is being turned, he holds it, pulls it, and shapes it until
finally that soft mass of putty-like material begins to take shape and form to
become a beautiful finished work of exquisite pottery.

God used this real life simple example in the life of Jeremiah to teach him a
lesson on how He deals with us. The potter is going to illustrate to us how God
shapes us until we become a beautiful vessel fit not just for earthly use, but
also for eternal use. There are actually three parts to this story: the potter, the
clay and the wheel.

But you will not understand this parable until you realize that the focus of the
story is not on the clay and it is not on the wheel. The focus of the story is on
the potter. It is the potter who that gives the clay both its form and its
function.

When you realize that we are the clay, God is the potter and life is the wheel,
you can learn why with God there is always hope for anyone no matter how
far they may have crossed over to the dark side.

This parable tells us three things about how God deals with all of us.

I. GOD IS ALWAYS WORKING ON ME

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “ Go down to the
potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the
potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.” Jeremiah 18:1-3

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Though this was an actual event that took place in Jeremiah's life, it really
was symbolic. Although there was an actual potter it is very obvious when you
read the story that God is represented by the potter.

This is made plain in verse 6. "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."

Incidentally, Isaiah the Prophet said basically the same thing in Isaiah 64: 8.
"But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter;
and all of us are the work of Your hand."

The invisible hands of a Heavenly Potter are on the clay of your life seeking
to mould and transform you into the beautiful vessel that He wants you to be.

God has a wonderful plan for your life. I don't care who you are, what your
background may be, where you have come from or where you are going, God
has a glorious, wonderful plan and purpose, not only for your life, but for
every life.

Later in Jeremiah 29:11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.”

Just as the potter controls the clay God wants to control you. Just as the
potter has a plan and purpose for the clay God has a plan and a purpose for
you if you will surrender your life to Him. The Psalmist David understood
when he wrote, "The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me." Psalm 138:8

Even though the clay is useless without the potter it is not worthless to the
potter. The clay may be unimportant. It may be unattractive or you may look
at it as cheap, but to the potter, clay is more valuable than gold. And just as
clay is precious to the potter, that is how valuable you are to God.

Have you ever thought about the fact that God created the world with His
hands, but He created us with His heart? When God created the world He
said, "That's good", but after God created Adam and Eve, He said, "That is
very good." God values His creatures far more than He values His creation.
Genesis 1:31

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The psalmist put it this way in Psalm 8:3-6 (NLT). "When I look at the night
sky and see the work of your fingers the moon and the stars you have set in
place what are mortals that you should think of us, mere humans that you
should care for us? For you made us only a little lower than God, and you
crowned us with glory and honour. "

As the potter represents God and the clay represents us, the wheel represents
life which is God's pottery wheel on which you and I are being shaped day by
day. Have you ever felt like your life was just going in circles? I've got news
for you - you are! In the daily rounds of life, God has placed you on the wheel
of His providence and He is in control.

He wants to take all of your circumstances whether they are good or whether
they are bad and use them to shape you into what He wants you to be. So
often, we get so frustrated when life takes a twisted turn or the wheel of life
seems to turn unfairly. We get discouraged and sometimes even bitter toward
God and here is the problem - we start focusing on the wheel and we forget
the potter. Remember, God, the potter knows exactly what He is doing.

We will not always understand why certain things happen to us. We will not
always understand why the wheel of life takes a certain turn, but if the clay of
your life is in the hands of God, you can trust Him to do what is best for you.

That is exactly what Romans 8:28 means, "God works all things out together
for the good of those who love Him."

Keep in mind even in the most difficult times of life, if you are a child of God,
God is always working on you.

2. GOD IS ALWAYS WANTING WHAT IS BEST FOR ME

Now the parable takes another turn (no pun intended!) "But the pot he was
shaping from the clay was marred in potter’s hands.” Jeremiah 18:4a

Oftentimes, the potter will have a problem - the clay will be spoiled or
marred; there will be an imperfection of some sort - a stone or a hard spot
that has to be removed before the work can be completed. The potter spots it,
stops the wheel, takes off the clay, begins to beat it, push it, maybe pick at it,
pull something away from it, and he starts over. Why does he do that?

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We all know that we have faults, but nobody knows all their faults. I am
convinced the average person may be more marred than they realize they are.
The truth is often you don't know your heart. I don't know my heart
completely. Nobody knows their own heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and beyond cure
who can understand it?"

Only God knows your heart and you can have imperfection in your life and
you don't even realize it. King David said something very interesting in the
19th Psalm. He said in verse 12,"How can I know all the sins lurking in my
heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults." Psalm 19:12 NLT

That is what the dark side does - it mars the clay and scars the clay and then
limits its use in the hands of the potter.

If you are sitting here today and you are thinking to yourself, "It doesn't seem
like God is working on me", "It doesn't seem like God is involved in my life"
Have you ever considered the reason God is not doing more in your life is
because He can't? God will not work for you until He works in you.

The first work that God will always do in you is to take out any impurities
that are in your life. For a vessel to be used by God three things have to be
true of that vessel - Available, Empty and Clean

If the vessel is not available God can't use it. If the vessel is full of itself, God
can't use it and if the vessel is dirty, God can't use it. God has to clean and
empty the vessel before He can ever get to it.

The other problem with the clay is this - it can become hardened, set and
refuse to yield to the potter - that was the problem of the Nation of Israel. The
Lord said to Jeremiah, tell them:

“The Lord says, ‘I am preparing to bring disaster on you! I am making plans

to punish you. So, every one of you, stop the evil things you have been doing.
Correct the way you have been living and do what is right.’ But they just keep
saying, ‘We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We
will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly! Jeremiah 18:11-12, NET

The reason why God could not do a work with the Nation of Israel is because
their hearts were hardened and they refused to let God work.

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That is the reason why God isn't doing more in some of you, because you
won't let Him. Don't misunderstand what I am saying. God is omnipotent and
God can do anything. There is nothing impossible with God. Listen carefully.

Listen to this. "Even though you cannot limit what God can do in your life,
you can limit what God will do in your life."

When the clay refuses to yield to the hands of the potter, when it becomes
hardened and set in its ways, the potter is left with no choice sometimes, but to
just set that clay aside. He has to melt it down until it is in its liquid form
again so he can reuse it. Sometimes God lets the fire of difficult times come
into our life, because we have gotten so hardened against Him that He has to
melt us down so we can be malleable in His hands again.

I read a story about a little boy whose hand got stuck in a very expensive vase
that was a family. The mother tried in vain to pull his hand out, but she
couldn't do it. In desperation she broke the vase only to find out that her son
had his fist all balled up around a penny that he stubbornly refused to release.
When his mother asked why he said, “Mom, if I had opened my hand, I would
have dropped my penny."

Too many people are just like that - holding on to the dark side; holding on to
that impurity, that sin in their life when God is simply trying to make out of
them a beautiful, valuable vase. He can't do it, because they refuse to yield to
His will. That is why you always need to remember that when God is working
on you He wants what is best for you.

3. GOD IS ALWAYS WILLING TO START OVER WITH ME

The greatest message in this whole story is in the last half of verse 4. "so the
potter remade it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.” Jer. 18:4

As Jeremiah watched the potter, he noticed the clay was marred and that it
wasn't the fault of the potter but the clay. The clay would not yield.

Now the potter had a choice. When the clay refused to yield to the will of the
potter he could throw the clay away and start on a whole new lump and just
forget about that piece of clay, but that is not what he did. He kept the wheel
turning and patiently worked with that clay. Listen again to those six
powerful words, "He remade it into another pot."

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You may be sitting there thinking at this very moment that the clay of your
life is too marred up, too messed up, nothing good could ever come out of it,
but I want you to read that verse one more time and listen to every word of it.

"So he remade it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him."

Jeremiah 18:4 Do you see that little word "so"? That word is so full of
patience and so full of love it is as if the potter has looked at this clay and said,
"Well, the clay is marred, but what I do best is take marred clay and remake
it into something beautiful and that is what I am going to do now."

That tells me that no clay is so marred that the hands of God cannot correct it
and direct it to become something absolutely beautiful.

What I am saying is this. As long as you are alive with God there is always the
possibility of "a new start". You can always start over with God as long as
you are willing to.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,

the old has gone, the new has come.”

You may be thinking, "I've really messed up my life", but it doesn't have to
stay messed up. You may be thinking, "I've married the wrong person." God
can make that person the right person by making you the right person. You
may be saying, "I've gone too far." No matter how far you have gone, God
can bring you back.

This Potter who has nailed scarred hands can turn your tears into triumph,
your darkness into daybreak if you will just let Him.

There are some of you here today that have never trusted the God of "The
new start." You have never received His son, Jesus Christ, into your life, who
died for you, who paid for your sins, and who was raised from the dead to give
you a new hope. I am here to tell you that if you would like to start over with
God today - you can.

Perhaps you are a follower of God already, but you've gotten off on the wrong
track. You have slipped over into the dark side and your life has become
marred and scarred because of it. God can take you right where you are,
remake you, remould you, reshapes you into what He wants you to be and
take you to where you need to be."