Jeremiah 18:1-4

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

My own attempts at pottery were a miserable failure. When I saw my teacher doing it, it all looked so simple. He just threw the clay onto the revolving wheel and within moments he was shaping a beautiful pot. What could possibly go wrong? As soon as I had a go, the clay seemed to acquire a mind of its own and I never managed to get the hang of it. On a number of occasions, while I was sitting at the wheel with my hideous misshapen pot, he would put his hands round mine and, incredibly, a wonderful pot would emerge. How did he do it?

The sight of a potter sitting at their wheel would have been a familiar one in Jeremiah’s day. God used this everyday experience to convey a very clear message to the prophet. God had tried to shape his people, but they had resisted. They had chosen to go their own way, so he’d had no option but to bring judgement upon them and to crush them into a lump of clay.

Every day, we are being influenced from innumerable directions. The media, advertisers, employers, family, friends and our community are continually making subtle suggestions about how we should think, live and spend our money. Amid those different voices God himself is seeking to place his hands upon us and shape us in a way that will be glorifying to him. Just like my pottery teacher, he wants to place his hands upon our lives and shape them into something that is beautiful.

Question

In what specific ways has God been seeking to shape your life recently?

Prayer

Loving Father, thank you that you offer to place your hands upon my life and make me into the person you created me to be. Amen