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Genesis 2:7
The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
We see that we were formed from the dust of the earth. Our lifeless bodies were made from a lump of clay. God has given us life. Let us use our lives to the best for our maker.
Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
God is the potter and we are the clay. We will learn a few lessons from the potter.
1. The Potter Has A Plan For Our Life
Jeremiah 18:1-6
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."
3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.
4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6 "O house of Israel , can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
In Vs.2-3 we see the picture of the potter at work on his clay. He is using the wheel to make pots etc. That is what God does with us. He is in constant work on our lives. When you take a close look at the clay, there is nothing attractive about it. Nothing but mud and water! However, when he touches it and uses it that ordinary piece of clay transforms into something valuable, pretty and honorable.
It is the same with us. God does have a plan for our life, although we may look small, inferior, and insignificant. Nevertheless, when God starts his work on us we turn out to become something wonderful in the maker's hand. God has a plan for our lives.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
A plan to prosper us and to give us a hope. Let the potter begin his work on us. Remember we are in God's hand. Think about the areas where God has transformed us from nobody to somebody.
2. The Potter Always Shapes Us
Jeremiah 18:4
But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
The potter takes a useless piece of clay and then makes it into a vessel, a vessel that looked good. How many of us have seen a potter at his work? He uses his hand to shape the clay. This clay then begins to get shape and soon a vessel, a pot a thing of value begins to evolve. God is always shaping us. He is making us beautiful, a vessel of honor.
Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
The potter has the right to make his clay the way he wants it, each one of us he makes differently according to his desire. When you look at us, we are all so different, characters are different, we look different, talents are different but we are used for the glory of God. All of us are instruments used by God in various ways.
Today are you willing to be shaped? Many of us we refuse to be shaped. We have to understand that God has sovereign rights over us. We are his. When we refuse to be shaped, he adds pressure until we humble ourselves before him. That is what happened to Jonah. He refused to be shaped. God had to use pressure until he submitted to him.
Various ways God uses to shape us. a.Discipler, b.D. Groups, c.Tragedies, d.Parents, e.Situations. Think about different times where God used you to shape you and make you a better person. Challenge-don't refuse to be shaped by God.
3. The Potter Can Be Trusted.
Jeremiah 18:5-6
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
God speaks to Jeremiah about the nation Israel, telling him he could do to learn what he does to clay. Our life is in God's hands. God's hands are the safest hands to be in.
Isaiah 49:15-16
15 Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
The greatest bond in the world is between mother and child at her breast, and yet we see time and again that relationship breaks. Children are mistreated, orphaned, punished, ill treated but when it comes to God we can rely on him and we can trust him, for he is not like our human fathers and mothers. God is different. He will never leave us or forsake us. Do you trust the potter with your life today?
Many people have been damaged by a.relationships, b.sickness, c.failures in life, d.broken families, e.death, f.marriages.
Today we may have experienced some of these things, we may have had hard time trusting people for what they did to you, may be we are scared that this could happen to us again. The Good news is that the potter is different, when we're hurt he is hurt, when we cry he cries, he wants us to know that he is different, he can be trusted. It is time to go back to God.
It is time to revive our relationship with him. If we have strayed away from him, it is time to get back make a decision to trust him with our life. Stop doubting and believe, when we allow God to work on us, to shape us and when we trust him in everything with our jobs, our marriages, our families and our lives he will make us into vessels of honor.
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