Jeremiah 18

May 31, 2024 • Pastor Daryl Zachman

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6, ESV)

The LORD gave Jeremiah another “action sermon”. He told Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house and watch. As the potter worked the clay on the wheel, it did not turn out as he intended. So he crushed it into a lump of clay and started over. Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, “Can I not do as this potter has done?”

It is an interesting question. Do we believe that we have been created by God? Do we believe that we are His workmanship? Can He not do with us as He desires? If He begins to mold and shape us, will we be like hardened clay and resist? Or will we allow Him to have His way?

We know that the entire house of Israel resisted the Master’s touch. They stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts. Consequently, the LORD crushed them by destroying their cities and sending them into captivity. Didn’t He have that right?

We know what God is forming in us.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29, NKJV)

God chose us from the foundation of the world to make us like Jesus. He changes us by His Word, but He also uses hardship, pain, insult, rejection, sickness, persecution and other various trials to form Christ in us. We can either resist or yield to the Master’s touch.

To be honest, some days I don’t want to change. Change is difficult—especially as you get older! But most days I pray that God would help me to be the Christian, husband, father, friend and pastor that He wants me to be. These sinful bodies cannot become like Christ apart from the will and determination of God. From our perspective, this often means unpleasant circumstances. But if we will yield by submitting to God and to the circumstances He allows, then we will become a beautiful vessel reflecting an attribute of Christ like no one else. The best we can do is to become exactly what God wants us to be!