The Sovereignty of God
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
Jeremiah 18:1-4
It is tempting to believe that we have total control over our lives. Our modern society drills that message into our brains from childhood to retirement. But that’s a myth. I’m sure you can think of some events or circumstances you had no control over that affected your life. So who’s in control? You’ve probably seen the catchphrase on the internet and on church signs: “God is in control.”
Jeremiah learned this lesson when God told him to go down to the potter’s house. There were three elements in what he saw: the clay, the potter, and the wheel. Jeremiah knew, as he watched the potter shaping and molding the clay, that he was looking at a metaphor? of himself, and of every man, and of every nation. We are the clay. And looking at the potter, it became clear to Jeremiah that the potter represented God. God was the Great Potter, with absolute power? over the clay to make it what he wanted it to be.
But if the potter is God and we are the clay, what is the wheel? The wheel can be thought of as the turning circumstances of our lives, under the control of the Potter, for it is the potter’s foot that guides the wheel. As our lives are being shaped and molded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of life that bring us again and again under the pressure of the molding fingers of the Potter, so that he shapes each of us according to his will. And so we see that God is sovereign over us and has the sovereign right to make each of us what He wants us to be.
During this season of self-examination and repentance, let us ponder the ways in which God is shaping us.
Bill Josey
Appointed readings for today: Jeremiah 18:1-11, 18-20, Psalm 31:9-16, Matthew 20:17-28
