Jeremiah 18:4: “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.”

October 17th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God instructed Jeremiah to go and watch a potter working at his wheel. He wanted Jeremiah, and us, to learn something from how the potter worked with the clay. As he worked, the soft clay became misshapen, so he smashed it and started over again. Perhaps there was a hard, foreign object in the clay that caused the marring, like a small pebble, or maybe the clay split; whatever the cause, the picture was clear. There was an imperfection, a sin, in the clay that damaged the vessel, even though it was still in the hand of the potter; so he had to break it down and start again.

God was showing Jeremiah a picture of how He works in our lives. We are created from the dust of the earth, and so we are quite literally like the clay in the potter’s hand. Mud clay is basically valueless until it is fashioned into something usable. And that is why God, the Great Potter, is always at work in our lives. We are in His hand, being molded and shaped by every circumstance in our life.

What key events in your life do you think have molded you into the person you are today? For most, if not all of us, it was in the difficult times, the stormy periods that God taught us how to trust Him and serve Him. As the imperfections in our lives come to the surface, if we stay soft and pliable, He is able to reshape us into something new that He can use for His glory. The Apostle Paul wrote that there is a divine purpose for every life surrendered to God: “For we are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). The wisest thing the clay can ever do is simply submit to the hand of the potter.

“LORD, have Your own way with us this day. You are the Potter and we are the clay.”