Clay and Predestination: Jeremiah #12
The Potter's predicament - Inspired by Jeremiah 18 and 19
Hello everyone a special welcome to recent new subscribers: As usual I encourage you to read through Jeremiah chapter 18 and 19, to fully benefit from this post. By the way, I am so challenged as I prepare and write this post, and ask the Lords help to clearly relay Jeremiah’s words.
WATCH AND LEARN
God has a message for Jeremiah, but before he can deliver it, he needs to understand something about pottery. I imagine him wondering off to the potter’s house to find out.
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(s). And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Did you see what happened there? If you are like me, whenever I’ve heard of God as the Potter I get the impression that HE is in absolute control of what he wants to make; after all, He is GOD! If God wants to make something happen, nothing can stop him. Right?
ABSOLUTE vs RELATIVE WILL
According to Jeremiah, wrong. When it comes to His dealings with Nations (and I would add individuals) — God, the Potter, is limited by the response of the clay in His hands. “… And the vessel he (God) was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he (God) reworked it into another vessel …”.
Jeremiah was watching as the Potter was forced to change his mind. He goes on to show how the response of a nation to His Hand can bring Him to change His mind: If at any time I (God) declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will repent of the evil that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will repent of the good which I had intended to do to it.
So when it comes to predestination according to Jeremiah, and according to the balanced picture of Scripture as a whole. We see that GOD has made his will relative to the relative will of man. Of course, God has more relative will than man does, but he will always look to the response of men and nations in order to shape them into vessels of honor or dishonor, of glory or wrath. When we look at Pharaoh before Moses, it was only after Pharaoh hardened his own heart (7 times I believe), that God then stepped in and hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
When we look at the Nation of Israel throughout history and even today, we see that they have fallen short of what God has called them to be. And as Jeremiah chapter 18 and 19 shows, God clearly had to change his mind concerning Judah because, when he asked them to return from their evil ways, and to amend their evil doings, the reply was: “That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.”
A REFLECTION ON TODAY
There is more to say on these chapters, but I will stop there, ending with a reflection that welcomes your own views and comments.
I believe God has used the nation of Israel as an example throughout history of a GOD who loves good and hates evil. A just GOD who blesses good and punishes bad. The promises he has made through the Abrahamic covenant will be honored, because He is a God who keeps His promises. So when it comes to the question of the land of Israel, certainly the Jewish people have a rightful claim. When it comes to the question of the criminal actions of Israel both past and present however, God does not condone these actions anymore than he has in times past.
We only need to read chapter 19 to see that no evil goes unnoticed by a Good God who is concerned with the affairs of men, and of nations.
Lastly, to bring things back home. Do I want God to wipe out evil from the earth? I certainly want to make sure my own heart is rid of it’s evil, otherwise I am in big trouble. (This post is not going into detail of how God has in fact made a way to rid us of the evil of our own heart.) I end with a quote:
“The Christianity asked of us is to recognize that the great religious struggle is not fought on a spectacular battleground, but within the ordinary human heart, when every morning we awake and feel the pressures of the say crowding in on us, and we must decide what sort of immortals we wish to be.”
(Kathleen Norris foreword: Mere Christianity, C.S Lewis Signature Classics)
Thanks for being with me, and yes … I am totally aware that this post had less storytelling that normal. I just had to go with it plain and simple, I hope the story of the Potter and the Clay speaks to you. It certainly has spoken to me. Now to live the life!
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Thank you
The painting above was my attempt of a potter’s hands at work, turned abstract. I was hoping to portray a little delicacy in the hands at work … hmmm!?
Jeremiah is a heavy book, but I am always encouraged at the quick willingness of a good God to welcome us back with open arms the second we turn back to Him. I think I noticed at the beginning for maybe the first time that the clay in the potter's hands had spoiled and he was re-working the clay into something usable. I think I always just thought (and probably skimmed over) the fact that God is a potter and molding us into what He wants. But really we are already something (something spoiled sometimes), and God remolds us into something different, better. Something for good.
What stood out to me is how you highlighted the tension between God’s sovereignty and our human response. The biblical image of the Potter reworking clay captures both His authority and His willingness to engage with us in real time. It is humbling to realize that our choices matter in shaping the vessel we become, even under the hand of the Master.