Being Only What God Needs – Jeremiah 18

A text – Jeremiah 18:1-11

18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
18:2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”
18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel.
18:4 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.
18:5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
18:6 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.
18:7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,
18:8 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.
18:9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,
18:10 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.
18:11 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.

A reflection:

All our lessons this week are about God being bigger, wiser, and more powerful than human beings. All of them declare God to be good and loving, and still all of them say that this good and loving God can squish us and reshape us into something that better suits God’s purposes.

In this passage God calls Jeremiah over to a potter’s house to watch him work on a clay pot. Clay pots can be wrecked while shaping, and the clay can be reused to make something that will really work. Has God ever reshaped you to work better for God’s purposes? Have you ever come to a task thinking you may be called to do this or that thing you are good at, only to discover God wants you to sit down or stand up or do something completely different so that God’s purposes might be realized?

Such an experience makes one feel ill-equipped at first. But such experiences can later make one feel extremely useful, flexible, and awed by the power of such a great and wise God. Our reaction may depend on whose purpose we wish to serve: our own, or the ones of God that we perhaps didn’t even know at first.

Being an instrument of God may mean you are only going to use you hands today, or only your feet. How willing are you to become simply manual labor for God’s purposes?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us a role in working your purpose. Help us to be open to being reshaped for what you need, no matter what you need done. We are here to do your will so that life might flourish. Amen.