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. 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: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV
God tells Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house and he will receive a message from God there. The imagery of a potter and clay is used many times in the Bible. In every case, God is the potter, and we, his creation, are the clay (Job 10:8-9, Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9-12, Romans 9:20-21).
Let’s consider the heart of the potter. Jeremiah tells us there was a flaw in the clay, it was marred; it was ruined; it needed to be fixed, to be reshaped, to be remade. Remember, God is the potter; we are the clay. Jeremiah is God’s prophet, proclaiming to the people of Judah that God will bring disaster on Judah if they do not repent. But God also communicates His desire to save, to restore, to rebuild – if the people of Judah will acknowledge their sin, repent and turn to God. The message is the same for us in Colorado in 2023.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. II Peter 3:9
The heart of the potter wants to rebuild, to restore, to save us. God desires our restoration, not our destruction. God is poised, anxious, ready to offer a way out of the disaster. But He can’t do that if you and I are not willing to admit we have a problem. If you and I continue to go on our merry way, saying “peace, peace,” when there is no peace, if we pretend that all is well in our world, then God can not offer the solution to the problem, because we do not even see that there is a problem.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Matthew 23:37 NIV
Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22 NIV
Can you see the heart of the potter, the heart of our savior? He desires for us to be restored to fellowship with him. He loves us, wants to protect us in the same way a mother hen does her chicks. Reread the verses above. Focus on the heart of God – the heart of the potter. Thank Him for His love for you.
