One of the most exciting times for our kids when they were in elementary school was the occasional “school field trip”. Seeing how certain principles taught in the classroom worked in the outside world, and experiencing them in an unfamiliar, out-of-the-ordinary context made the lessons more memorable. Field trips and object lessons can be powerful teaching tools, and as we might suspect, God was way ahead of us in that category, as well. He was using field trips long before we ever got on board with them. And, as I mentioned while sharing with a special friend recently, the lessons God taught with His own field trips remain relevant for us today, as well. 

An Unusual Impulse ~
Decades ago when my wife and I were living back in Virginia, I had a personal encounter with God’s use of that teaching tool in a very unique way. I was in the midst of experiencing one of those spiritually “dry times”, feeling disconnected, and struggling to find clarity of purpose and direction. Questions about my life and the future were haunting me, and the God I wanted to hear from seemed distant and uninvolved. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I happened to be reading the Book of Jeremiah and came across an unusual “field trip” that God had sent His prophet, Jeremiah, on. Without any advance notice, initial instructions, outlines, or list of goals and objectives, God simply said this to Jeremiah: 

Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words. (Jeremiah 18:2 NKJV)

It was a strange directive, but Jeremiah didn’t question it. Instead, he proceeded to respond like any obedient prophet should:

Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. (Jeremiah 18:3 NKJV)

For some reason, when I read those words, the passage stuck in my mind and heart and refused to budge. As I sat there and pondered the episode, I felt envious of Jeremiah. What a simple thing the prophet had to do to get what I had wanted so much to have … a personal encounter with the Living God. I recall wishing that God would do something so simple for me. And as I pondered the implications of the lessons God delivered to Jeremiah during that little field trip,  something unexpected hit me like a ton of bricks. 

Taking a Chance ~
There was actually a business just a few miles down the road from us that was simply called, “The Pottery.” It consisted of lots of buildings and included nurseries, housewares, furniture, artwork, and a smorgasbord of assorted Chinese junk. But they also had a shop where an actual potter worked. I wondered what God might do if I reacted like Jeremiah and went down to that potter’s shop. I certainly wasn’t a prophet by any stretch of imagination. I was just a confused servant desperately wanting to hear from God and wondering if He might be gracious enough to do for me what He did for Jeremiah. I had no promise that God would tell me anything, but I got up and went anyway.

The scene that Jeremiah recorded felt real and almost personal when I entered the potter’s little shop. I saw an older guy sitting on a stool and leaning over a wheel that was turning slowly between his knees, and the prophet’s words echoed in my head and fit perfectly because just as Jeremiah said, ‘there’ he was, making something at the wheel. And like God’s servant so long ago, I had come there, hoping to hear what God had to say, but had no idea what to expect. No voices from Heaven greeted me and as I stood in the quiet little shop, but at least one thing was clear. Just as Jeremiah did centuries ago, I was watching a living metaphor, and there were things to learn. 

Help from Another Prophet ~
Understanding the lessons intended to be conveyed in any metaphor begins with identifying what or who is represented by the primary components involved. In this case, another one of God’s prophets gave us some help with that task years before Jeremiah’s field trip ever took place. Isaiah had this to say:

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. (Isaiah 64:8 NKJV)

Isaiah’s proclamation obviously carried forward to the visible demonstration Jeremiah witnessed, but the principles displayed in the process weren’t limited to the situation confronting God’s people in that day. What I wanted to hear then, and what we need to hear today, is what God is saying to us and how are we to respond? So, let’s explore some of the answers to those questions.

An Obvious but Impactful Observation ~
Jeremiah’s first comment includes a simple, obvious, and profoundly important observation. As we mentioned earlier, he said, … and there he was, making something at the wheel (Jeremiah 18:3). In the metaphor God gave to both Isaiah and Jeremiah, the Living God Himself is the potter, and the first thing Jeremiah noticed about the potter was that he was making something. The potter was not just exercising his fingers or trying to see how many ways he could squeeze a lump of clay. He was in the process of creating something of value, something designed with a purpose to fulfill, something  that would make someone’s life better, easier, and perhaps more beautiful. God wasn’t simply exercising His creative fingers when He gave us life. From that first miraculous moment of our conception, God was in the process of making something. 

We’re surrounded 24/7 by a culture obsessed with throwing digital “mirrors” in front of us. They’re designed to seduce us into evaluating ourselves and adjusting our behavior according to the world’s transient, superficial, morally twisted, and spiritually empty value system. What a difference it makes when we realize that God is actively engaged and continuously involved with us. There is purpose in everything He does with us and everything He allows with us because He is in the process of making something. 

Nothing Random in God’s Process ~
That means that just like the potter Jeremiah saw and the one I was watching, God’s work is not random. He has had a completed image in mind for every one of us from the very beginning. And just as the clay on the potter’s wheel didn’t always reveal what the final product would look like, what God is making with us may not be apparent for a while. But we can be assured of this . . . From the very first touch our “Potter” knows that He is indeed in the process of making something – something with a purpose – a purpose that He has chosen.

Our initial challenge as we join Jeremiah on his field trip is first to actively challenge some of our natural tendencies and culturally affected ideas about who and what we are. Whether or not we see it, feel it, or acknowledge it, we are another something that God is making. He is actively, personally, and continuously involved in making something, including us, His children, to add purpose, function, value, and beauty to this world He created. The job of the clay is not to pass judgment on the potter or to criticize his work, and certainly not to be confused over who does the forming. It’s simply to respond to the potter’s hands and to move in the direction that his touch, his pressure, pushes us toward. 

. . . So that’s our initial challenge as we join Jeremiah’s field trip to the potter’s house, but there are more lessons yet to be considered. Please join us next week as we continue to explore this ‘living metaphor’ together.

“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the quotes below.  Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .

• • • Understanding lessons to be conveyed in any metaphor begin with identifying what or who is represented by the primary components involved. In this case, another of God’s prophets gave us some help with that years before Jeremiah’s field trip ever took place. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • God wasn’t simply exercising His creative fingers when He gave us life. From that first miraculous moment of our conception, God was in the process of making something. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • What a difference it makes when we realize that God is actively engaged and continuously involved with us. There is purpose in everything He does with us and everything He allows with us because He is in the process of making something. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)  
    • Whether or not we see, feel or acknowledge it, we are another ‘something’ that God is making. He’s actively, personally and continuously involved in making something, including us, to add purpose, function, value and beauty to this world He created. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • The job of clay isn’t to pass judgment on the potter or criticize his work and certainly not to be confused over who does the forming. It’s simply to respond to the potter’s hands and move in the direction that his touch, his pressure, pushes us toward. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

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