Jeremiah 18:4 NIV – ‘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.’
Nothing stops the potter. Nothing stops the potter. Nothing stops the potter. I could stop there and that would be enough wisdom to transform your life (if you truly meditated on it), but I won’t. I want to ask you this question instead; Do you have as much confidence in the potter?
God is the potter and we are the clay in this analogy, but let’s make this a bit more practical by discussing a key difference between the clay and yourself. The difference is that the clay is inanimate; It can’t jump off the potter’s wheel if the shaping hurts, or if it gets cracked, burned, or broken. You and I certainly can though.
Look at Jonah. It didn’t do him much good, but he ran from God like a piece of clay trying to preserve itself. Initially, he didn’t want to partner with God so God couldn’t do what he wished to do until Jonah agreed. Unlike the clay, we have to choose to lay down our lives to the call of God. We must strive to be as confident in God as He is in Himself. The salvation we find here is that the power to believe is what God promises to supply us, if we only make the choice to believe, depend, and follow.
The scripture in Jeremiah 18:4 is very encouraging, because it tells us that no situation makes the potter sit back and say, “Hmmmm, this piece here can’t be fixed. This piece should be discarded.” No! God can always shape the clay for good. Romans 8:28 (KJV) says it perfectly, tying the desire of God and the submission of man into one idea; “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
God calls and works the call in us. We love Him through our obedience and it’s our responsibility to surrender to His purpose. All will be well if we surrender to the one who knows best. He will not leave us a mess. Never!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I’ve heard Your Word; You always have a plan and You’ll never leave me or forsake me! Thank you for Your promises and for caring about me. Please help me to believe in spite of how I feel and what I see. It doesn’t feel like much good can come of my failures, but I believe in you. I believe you are able to transform my offering. I will follow you, and let you make me according to your good pleasure, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.