If you’ve joined us in this series during the past couple of weeks, you’re aware that we’ve been exploring an event in the life of the Prophet Jeremiah. God had directed his prophet to take a field trip to a potter’s workshop where He would meet with him and reveal the message He wanted him to deliver to His people. You also may recall from our first post that I happened to be reading the passage describing the event during a challenging time in my own life many years ago. It had an unusually compelling impact on me at the time, so I set out to do what Jeremiah did. There was a potter’s workshop close to where we lived, so I decided to visit the establishment in the hope that God might graciously choose to meet with me, as well. 

Though there were no prophetic announcements delivered in my case, the experience was unforgettable, and the potter demonstrated principles that are as real and relevant for us today as they were for Jeremiah. Today we’ll close out our visit with a look at one of those principles that, for me, will always be one of the most profoundly encouraging glimpses into the heart of God that I’ve ever been privileged to experience. But first, let’s review once again how the whole episode began.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. (Jeremiah 18:1–3 NKJV)

An Unexpected Glitch ~
As we’ve highlighted throughout this series, this field trip we’ve been on is a living metaphor.
Jeremiah was sent to the potter’s shop to buy a vase for his flowers – and to witness a three-dimensional parable that was, and is, intended to demonstrate things not only about ourselves, but about the God we serve, and about how the relationship between God and His people works. With that in mind, our challenge is to discern what God wants to teach us and how to apply it in ways that honor Him and benefit His Kingdom. And unfortunately, we barely get into the process before the potter encounters a serious roadblock and all Jeremiah tells us is this:

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; (Jeremiah 18:4 NKJV)

All he tells us is that the vessel was marred. When it comes to how it happened, or what might have caused it, we just don’t know. So let’s focus on what we do know. And what we do know is that something happened that left the vessel marred – and that word, in this case, means that the piece was “ruined”. It means that the vessel was so damaged that the original plan for that piece of clay was … no longer achievable. The only question left for the potter was what to do with it now. But there are other questions confronting those of us who are trying to discern what God wants us to learn from this unusual demonstration.

A Challenging Phrase ~
One of those questions addresses a potentially troubling issue. That is, what did Jeremiah mean when he said the vessel was ruined in the hand of the potter? Since the potter is meant to represent God in this parable, what does the phrase say about His role in the vessel being rendered unusable? Was the vessel marred purposely for some reason? Was there a causal factor involved that isn’t mentioned? Or was there some change in the consistency and resilience of the clay that made the intended pattern unachievable? 

There are at least two perspectives from which to view this challenging issue, because the phrase “in the hand of” has at least two common interpretations. Obviously, one is that the phrase can mean that something is physically held in someone’s hand. But it was also a commonly used idiom that meant ownership, or to describe something being placed under someone’s authority as Jeremiah used it in another passage:  

And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. (Jeremiah 46:26 NKJV)

As God proceeded to interpret the parable to Jeremiah, He made it clear that the message and the implications represented were primarily directed toward Israel as a whole. Jeremiah recorded it like this:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “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! (Jeremiah 18:5–6 NKJV)

Oppositional Material ~
So, as we’ve pointed out before, the “clay” our heavenly “Potter” is working with is not mindless, lifeless, inanimate dirt. The materials He’s working with are fallen sons of Adam, like us. The clay in His hands has a mind of its own. It has desires it wants fulfilled and dreams it wants to pursue. The clay God is working with can say, “No.” And its nature, either individually or collectively, is to be rebellious and oppositional and to engage in behaviors that are self-destructive and socially toxic. Because the clay likes to think of itself as independent and autonomous when it’s actually neither, its choices tend to lead to chaos and ruin. But what we want to emphasize here is not in the ruinous proclivities of the clay. Instead, we want our gaze to be focused on the incredible redemptive heart and reconstructive power of the Potter.

When we first began this series, I mentioned that this passage was special to me because it led to my own trip to a nearby potter’s shop at a point when God felt distant and uninvolved in my life. But it wasn’t that God had moved away. What happened was that the world’s value system had crept in and infiltrated my life to the point that I lost touch with things I had declared to believe. I felt contaminated and no longer usable, and I had no way to undo damage I had inflicted. In the midst of all that, Jeremiah said something that was like an explosion of grace in my head and heart. He wrote these incredible words: 

… So he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make it. (Jeremiah 18:4 NKJV)

“Gorgeous” Truth ~
As one of my favorite Bible expositors loves to say, “That statement is Gospel gorgeous!!” What a picture it paints of the Potter at work in our lives. The clay in His hands was a total, unusable wreck … and at the time, so was Israel, ‘spiritually’ – and then thousands of years later, so was I. In both cases, the original purpose God had in mind couldn’t be achieved, and something radical had to be done. The potter that Jeremiah was watching could have tossed the ruined lump into the waste bin and started over with a fresh batch, but He didn’t. And neither did the Potter working with us. Instead, he used that same material to create something brand new. Same clay, but with a new look. Same clay – but with a new purpose. Same clay – but with a new destiny. And with every reclaimed vessel, the world gets to behold a glorious portrait of the kind of Potter who holds us in His hands. 

So for anyone feeling marred today, anyone feeling ruined, useless, hopeless, irredeemable, or beyond God’s reach, there’s a message from our heavenly Potter for you . . . No matter how marred you feel, you’re still moldable, He’s got you … You’re still ‘in’ His hand. You’re still His clay, and He isn’t interested in patching up ruined pieces and putting them on the “used” shelf.  In His hands, ruined vessels are redesigned with new capabilities, reassigned with renewed purpose, and refilled with new power… 

May the lessons from Jeremiah’s “field trip” help us to remember times when God
might have had to remake us, and to love and engage those “ruined” vessels we see around us every day.

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

• • • The clay in God’s hands has a mind of its own with desires it wants fulfilled and dreams it wants to pursue. Its nature, both individually and collectively, is to be rebellious and oppositional and engage in self-destructive, socially toxic behaviors. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet) 
  • • The clay likes to think of itself as independent and autonomous when it’s actually neither, so its choices tend to lead to chaos and ruin. Instead, we want our gaze focused on the incredible redemptive heart and reconstructive power of the Potter. GallaghersPen Click here to Tweet)  
    • The Potter working with us used the same marred material to create something brand new. Same clay, but with a new look. Same clay–but with a new purpose. Same clay–but with a new destiny. And with every reclaimed vessel, the world gets to behold a glorious portrait of the kind of Potter who holds us in His hands. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • For anyone feeling marred, ruined, useless, hopeless, irredeemable, or beyond God’s reach, there’s a message from our heavenly Potter for you. No matter how marred you feel, you’re still moldable, He’s got you  … You’re still ‘in’ His hand. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
    • You’re still His clay. He isn’t interested in patching up ruined pieces and putting them on the “used” shelf.  In His hands, ruined vessels are redesigned with new capabilities, reassigned with renewed purpose, and refilled with new power. GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)

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