This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
Rise up, be off to the potter’s house;
there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter’s house and there he was,
working at the wheel.
Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the Lord.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel. (Jer 18:1-6)
It has always amazed me to see artists work on pottery. How they can put a lump of clay on a wheel and spin it into a fine piece of art just astounds me.
As clay in the potter’s hand, God told Jeremiah, so we are to God.
This had huge implications for Jeremiah. For, not only can God fashion us in His hands, God reminded Jeremiah that potters can do something else as well. They can work on a piece and when they near completion and see that it is flawed, they can reduce the piece to a lump of clay and begin again.
God told Jeremiah that He could and would remake His people. Though they had sinned, had rejected the Lord, God would make then anew.
As God did for the people of Jeremiah’s time, God can and does do for us today.
He refashions us in the palm of His hand every time we go to Him truly contrite for what we have done. When we sin, when we hurt others and our relationship with God, He is there to make us anew.
Broken and fragile, God can repair us. Dinged and bashed, God can make us brand new again.
What it takes is a willingness, on our part, to return to the Lord.
FAITH ACTION: In prayer this day, ask God to show you the areas of your life that need to be remade. Give yourself over to Him and ask Him to restore you.