Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
Jeremiah 18:1-4
18 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 is told by God to go down to the Potter House so that God can talk to Jeremiah. While Jeremiah is there he begins to watch the potter make a vessel.
When a potter makes something on a wheel they will usually check the clay first to make sure it has no lumps or something in the clay before he begins to create what he want to make. You see this is important because if there is something in the clay it will not form correctly.
Once the potter gets started on the wheel they will start to mold it into something special. They will grab water and turn the wheel and press their hand or their fingers into the clay and start to form a vase or whatever they are making. If they get it finished and it is marred then they will pick it up and pound it hard on the table and start to reshape it again, because they do not want a flawed vessel.
God is showing Jeremiah what he can do with a person or a nation. God says if I say it then it will happen unless they turn from their wicked ways and if they do not then I will destroy them.
God was telling Jeremiah to go back to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and tell them to straighten up and act right or God will destroy them all.
We go through many trial or storms in our lives. Sometimes these storms can be pretty intense and you don't know if you can weather the storm. Or those times when you can't pay your bills and the collections are calling you from every direction. Maybe your car continues to break down one time after another. These can be those storms or trials in your life.
There is an old saying that says, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Sometimes in our life when the storms keep coming we may need to kick back with a glass of lemonade and read the Bible and pray. We should just go ahead and make lemonade out of our mess and get with God.
There is no other God that can help you straighten out your mess. There is no golden calf, Buddha, Mohammad or any other god that can do a thing except the God Almighty.
So Jeremiah is told to go back and tell all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "Thus says the Lord;" Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and you doings good.""
Now you would think that after hearing all of the tells of what God had done to all of their ancestors way before them about how God handled the situation that they would change, but did you know that people are stubborn and think they know it all.
Jeremiah 18:12
12 And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.”
Isn't that just like a bunch of us today, Stubborn.
Jeremiah 18:18-23
18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.”
19 Give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to the voice of those who contend with me!
20 Shall evil be repaid for good?
For they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember that I stood before You
To speak good for them,
To turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine,
And pour out their blood
By the force of the sword;
Let their wives become widows
And bereaved of their children.
Let their men be put to death,
Their young men be slain
By the sword in battle.
22 Let a cry be heard from their houses,
When You bring a troop suddenly upon them;
For they have dug a pit to take me,
And hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet, Lord, You know all their counsel
Which is against me, to slay me.
Provide no atonement for their iniquity,
Nor blot out their sin from Your sight;
But let them be overthrown before You.
Deal thus with them
In the time of Your anger.
This was a terrible thing for Jeremiah to hear and he couldn't believe that they would threaten him in this way. But as the story goes on in chapter 19 that God tells them of their fate.
God Loves You!
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.