There is a well-known hymn entitled, “Have Thine Own Way.” The first line of this hymn says, “Have Thine own way, Lord! . . . Thou art the potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”(1) When Adelaide Pollard wrote the words to this hymn she was speaking of the biblical imagery of God as the Potter, which is used many times throughout the Scripture.
The prophet Isaiah used the imagery of the potter to stress God’s sovereignty. For example, Isaiah 29:16 says, “Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me?’ Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding?’” Isaiah was saying that people have no perception of the ways of God, and to question Him is foolish, for we are just weak and fragile vessels.
In Romans 9:21 Paul used the imagery of the potter when people were complaining that God is unjust. He asked, “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” Paul was saying, “Who are we to question God? He can do whatever He wants with our lives!” Bill Cosby used to tell his children, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!” and some of us need to understand that God, as our heavenly Father, has the authority to do the same; and we need to respect Him.
In our passage this evening, we are going to look at how Jeremiah used the imagery of God as the potter, as he was trying to communicate the Lord’s sovereignty concerning our lives. Let’s see what God led Jeremiah to share with the people of Judah, or southern Israel, and let’s try to apply it to our lives today.
Imagery of the Potter (vv. 1-4)
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 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.
Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house as the Lord commanded him, and while he was there he saw a potter spinning his wheel and molding a piece of clay. The potter’s wheel in that day and time was actually two wheels linked together by a pedestal. The potter would spin the bottom wheel with his feet, while the clay spun on the upper wheel to be shaped by his hands.
Jeremiah was in awe as he watched the potter fashion a piece of clay. He saw the potter’s fingers glide along the slippery clay, shaping and molding it with the slightest touch. The potter only had to touch the tip of his finger against the clay, and its shape would be changed. Jeremiah said that the clay was marred in the potter’s hand and he made it again into another vessel that pleased him. If a potter is displeased with the shape of the clay he is molding, all he has to do is squash it flat and start over again. Jeremiah realized that this is a picture of our lives. Our lives are as fragile as wet clay in the hands of a potter, and the Lord has the ability to reshape our lives.
The potter uses several implements, or tools, to bring the clay to a place where it is usable:
First he uses a shovel. This is the tool he uses to dig the clay from the earth. This is a picture of the Spirit of God who comes to where we are in sin and speaks to us in convicting power and draws us to Jesus.(2)
Secondly he uses a mallet. After the clay has been cleansed and processed, it is laid on a table and beaten with a wooden mallet. The potter does this to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped in the clay. If he doesn’t, the air bubble will form a pocket that will produce a weak spot and cause the vessel to be fragile and unusable. This is a picture of the trials . . . and chastisements of life that tend to work together to shape us in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.(3)
Thirdly he uses the wheel. Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter’s hand. The wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter . . . As our life is being shaped and molded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance . . . which bring us again and again under the Potter’s hand, under the pressure of [His] molding fingers.(4)
Fourthly he uses his hands. While the clay spins around on the wheel, it is never out of contact with the potter’s hands. He is in constant contact, molding, shaping and bringing the clay along through his loving guidance. If he were to ever remove his hand, the clay would spin right off the wheel and would be lost. Therefore, he remains there with the clay . . . until it become what he desires it to be.(5)
As the Great Potter, God’s desire is to make us into a beautiful creation that is useful to Him. The key we must remember is that the Lord can only shape us if we submit to His loving hands and allow Him to do so.
You Can Be Remolded (vv. 5-10)
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7 The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”
Judah had been disobedient to the Lord by worshipping other gods. Through Jeremiah, the Lord informed the people of Judah that if they didn’t repent they would be destroyed. While people are in God’s hands, meaning under His shaping influence, it is much easier to humble oneself and repent. In other words, when God asks us to repent, we had better do so before we decide to go our own way. Once He allows us to make our own choices, then our way leads to destruction.
The late John Denver said, “The potter’s wheel takes love and caring, skill and patience fast and slow. The works it makes are easily broken, once they survive the potter’s throw.”(6) What he meant is that when the clay survives the throwing and molding process on the wheel, and then becomes fired in the kiln, at this point it is easily broken. If someone drops a pot that has been hardened as glass, it will shatter.
While clay is still wet in the potter’s hands it has a chance to be reshaped and made into a new creation, but once it has been set and fired in the kiln and made hard, it cannot be reshaped. The only way it can change its shape after it is dried is when it’s thrown on the ground and shattered into tiny pieces; which not a shape to be desired.
In Isaiah 30:14, the prophet told the people of Israel that if they failed to repent, then God “shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.” If the nation of Israel became set in her ways and did not listen to the Lord, then she could no longer be molded. The nation would soon be dropped and broken into countless pieces.
If the Lord is speaking to your heart this evening to accept Jesus Christ, then you had better do so before it’s too late. If you continually deny Jesus, then your heart will become hardened to Him, like a pot that has been fired in the kiln. If you harden your heart to Jesus, then you are no longer moldable by the Great Potter. You are heading for a great fall, and when you hit the ground it’s not going to be a pretty sight!
You Must Repent Now (v. 11)
11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good’.”
God spoke through Jeremiah and told Judah to repent. He said that if Judah didn’t turn from her evil ways immediately then she was heading for destruction. When God said “I am fashioning as disaster and devising a plan against you,” He was telling Judah that He was getting ready to drop her on the ground to be shattered to pieces. We know the outcome of this situation. Judah was indeed shattered and broken to pieces when her people were taken captive by other nations and separated like a glass jar that has burst apart and its pieces scattered abroad.
In Revelation 2:25-27 Jesus says we should be faithful to Him until the very end. He says of those who are unfaithful, “They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels.” If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, then you are headed for destruction. I encourage you to give your life to Him now, before it’s too late.
Jeremiah said everyone is to “return now from his evil way.” To “return now” means this very minute. You see, we don’t know for certain if we have another minute left to live. We could die as we leave church tonight, or Jesus could return to take His people home. We are not guaranteed another minute, so we should accept Jesus Christ into our hearts right now. Paul said, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).
Time of Reflection
What Jeremiah has shown us is that the Lord loves us and desires for us to be in His loving hands at all times. He wants us to be sensitive to the shaping forces of His fingers. If we are insensitive, and go our own way and do our own thing, then we are saying that we don’t need His guidance. We are saying that we are already in our preferred shape.
If we fail to give our lives to the Master Potter, then He will let us be whom we desire. We may be some ugly, deformed pot and not even know it, but the Lord will send us to the kiln to be fired as we are. If we don’t turn our lives over to the Potter and remain in His hands to be continually remolded and made anew, the Lord will stop shaping us, and He will let us alone. When He lets us alone, we are in a very fragile state. One wrong move could send us crashing to the ground.
If you have never known God in an intimate and personal relationship, then you need to allow the Potter, Jesus Christ, to make you anew. He will come into your heart and give you a newfound joy if you will allow Him to do so.
NOTES
(1) Adelaide A. Pollard, “Have Thine Own Way,” The Baptist Hymnal (Ed. Wesley L. Forbis; Nashville: Convention Press, 1991), 294.
(2) Alan Carr, “Lessons Learned from the Potter,” a sermon taken from the Internet February 2001 at http://www.gileaddbc.org/Old%20Testament/jer%2018_1-6.htm.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ray C. Stedman, “The Potter and the Clay,” a sermon taken from the Internet February 2001 at http://pbc.org/dp/stedman/jeremiah/3206.html.
(5) Carr.
(6) John Denver, “Potter’s Wheel,” taken from the album Different Directions, Windstar Records, 1991.
