Saturday 10/11/14

Saturday, October 11, 2014 [There’s Still Hope]

Jeremiah 18:1-4

"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.”

The prophecies of Jeremiah are filled with conviction for Israel.  After all that the Lord had done to bless them, to keep them, and to make His Face shine upon them, they still (like us) found a way to turn their backs to Him.  God created us n his likeness to have a heart that He alone could fill in our relationship with Him.  Yet, it is a part of our fallen human condition to try to fill that space with other things.  Much like the clay being formed in the potter’s hands that had some flaw which caused it to become misshapen, our bent toward pride and following our own ways causes a marring in our lives.  As I think of my own journey - the mistakes that I’ve made, the bridges I’ve burned, the people that I’ve hurt - I can imagine me in God’s Hands slipping and sliding through His fingers and resisting being shaped into the vessel that He had planned originally.  However, this passage gives me such great hope.  All is not lost!

“Turn from your evil ways…and reform your ways and actions” (Jeremiah 18:11).  The promise of verses 8 and 11 is that if I repent, God will relent.  God was not finished with Israel and He’s not finished with us, either.  Even though the clay was marred in His hands, He did not throw it away and start all over again.  He took the very same marred clay and began to form it into another pot…as seemed best to him.  He is always looking out for a way to secure our best for the sake of His Name and Glory.  Though I’ve made a great and many mistakes, God is not finished with me.  He calls me to repentance and rest in him (see Isaiah 30:15), a stillness that will allow Him to mold me and shape me into something that He will use to bring many people close to Him and show them His love.  He loves me so much that He will not simply discard me…and He has the same love for each one of us.  What an Awesome and Loving Father!