as in a potter;s hands - 17th week Thursday 2014

Today the prophetic word is preceded again by another symbol action.  God brings Jeremiah to a potter’s house and there shows him what God is about to do to Israel.  There at the potter’s house the potter is working on the wheel.  And Jeremiah notices that whenever the object of clay which the potter is making turns out badly in his hand, the potter tries again, this time making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleases.  The potter does not destroy or discard the clay that turned out badly.  No, he simply remakes it into another object, taking off from the mistake and using this to make another object that pleases him.

Several lessons can be learned here.

First, many times difficulties come because we are not open to the possibility of being remade, reshaped, and refashioned.  We always find it difficult to leave behind the life that we have been used to.  There is always a hesitancy and fear in embracing the new.  In the church we have the vow of obedience precisely to make the reshaping, remaking and the refashioning a lot quicker and with a little ease.  But it will always involve some pain.

Secondly, I must realize that I cannot always make my life the way I want it. Indeed I must make plans, and I must chart my own future and destiny but in the end I have also to learn to accept that I am subject to forces beyond my control.

As clay in the potter’s hands.