This is a post regarding being Marred and remade in the Potter’s Hand. He loves us and will continue to work with us. Jeremiah 18:1-4, “The Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words. So I went down to the potter’s house and THERE he was working at HIS WHEEL. And the vessel he was making of clay was marred in the potter’s hand, and he reworked and remade it into another vessel, as IT SEEMED GOOD TO THE POTTER to do.” There is so much depth in these four verses regarding the intentional work of the Lord in the life of an individual or even a group of people. It is easy to lose sight of the reality that He is the Potter and that we are the clay. Paul wrote in Romans 9:21, “Hath not the potter power over the clay?…” The Lord is faithful as the potter to shape and form the clay into the vessel that he desires, into the vessel that will accomplish His purpose and bring Him the greatest glory. Look at the progression of these verses. First of all the Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah was to arise and go down to the potter’s house. The work of the potter is not found in an elevated or exalted place. It is not in a location of life for all men to see and be amazed by the work that is going on in the life of the clay. No the potter’s house is down. It is in a low, obscure, seemingly insignificant and unimportant place that the potter’s house finds it residence. This is not an accident. The deep work of the potter in the life of the clay can only be accomplished away from the visible expectations and demands of what man would expect the vessel to look like after the potter began his work. The clay cannot be influenced or respond to the demands of those who look on. The only one that matters in the life of the clay must be the potter and his hands working his will into it. Next we see that the Lord permits the prophet to hear his words in this humble place where the potter is doing his deepest and most intentional work. Today, we hear a generic sound, a generic voice in the land. Not so in the potter’s house the work is distinct and the word is specific. He is not simply shaping and forming another vessel or another group to set on the shelf. No he is forming a vessel, individually and corporately that will pour out worship and bring Him glory. This is His vessel. May we hear the word of the Lord in the potter’s house. While God does give Jeremiah a specific word for a specific people during this season, he also gives you and I this prophetic picture of what he is saying and working for all of time. Notice the next statement, “So I went down to the potter’s house and THERE HE WAS…” Is not this the desire and cry of all of our hearts? To seek, find and see Him. What a profound statement to hear and more profound to be able to say, “and there He was…” Jeremiah not only is permitted to come down to the potter’s house to hear a word, but he is permitted to see the potter. Even deeper than this, Jeremiah finds the potter, “working at His wheel.” A side note here is this, it is that the Lord permits men who are called to ministry to observe the deep work that he is doing in the clay that they have been called to serve and minister to. Here is the prophet of the Lord watching the potter do a work with clay. He is faithfully working at the potter’s wheel. He does not give up on the clay if the clay still shows any sign that it will respond to the potter. Listen to the continued words in this passage in Jeremiah 18, “and the vessel of clay that He was making was marred in the potter’s hand.” The clay was not marred by the potter but was marred in his hand. The clay becomes marred because of something in it that may not be responding to the hand of the potter. An air bubble, dirt or another foreign substance may be causing the clay to lose its shape or to harden to quickly. While I do not fully understand the principles of pottery making, I do know that there are things that impede the manner in which the clay responds to the kneading of the potter’s hand to shape and form it. The clay once marred cannot be properly finished to accomplish its intended purpose. The amazing thing is that if the clay shows any continued responsiveness, if it has not hardened to the point of being reprobate, that is unresponsive, the potter will begin to rework and reshape the clay into another vessel that seems good to Him. Praise God that being marred, being flawed or having fallen does not disqualify you or me from the potter working with us and in us again. The potter does not desire to discard the clay. No he has already invested much of himself in it. Rather, he desires to continue to work with it until it yields to the touch of his hand and conforms to the shape of his purpose. He begins to soften the clay by pouring over it and into it the water of the word, the river of the spirit and the tears of brokenness until the hard areas that had begin to stubbornly resist the touch of the potter’s hand once again yield and gradually respond to the press and push of the potter’s desire. Hour upon hour the potter spends working and kneading the clay until it is once again pliable and surrendered to his touch. The potter is not looking at the clay as being marred any longer, the former condition of clay is no longer relevant to what the potter is currently working. He will not relent until the clay bears the exact shape and form that in his mind he had predestined it to be. He would have let it go into the refuse had the clay shown no signs of conviction, that is a willingness to still be touched by the hand of the potter. But now that the work has moved beyond marred to amazing, his hand stays at work to finish what he began in this piece of clay. When he is finished shaping and forming, upon close examination you do not see the marred area any longer, but instead all through the clay you see the oil (anointing) from his hands and lines from the potter’s fingers in every crevice of the clay. This piece of clay, regardless of the type of vessel it has been shaped into bears the marks of the one who has formed it. Now it is ready for the fire. It can endure and hold its shape as the potter exposes it to his purifying work to bring the vessel to a place where it can fulfill its intended purpose to glorify and honor the potter who formed it. May we permit the potter to finish in us all that he has begun.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:05:27 +0000
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