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A Flawed piece of clay:
Do you ever have these thoughts about yourself?
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:4-6
Several years ago, I wrote a commentary on the book of Jeremiah. But for some reason, the message that I am sharing with you now had escaped me then. At that time, I never fully understood its application. But this morning as I was beginning to work on another project, the thought came to me that I was 83 years old, have been in the ministry for over 60 years, and the thought came to my mind, what have you done over these years that would bring glory to God? I was silent. (Something rare indeed.)
Then the thought came to me about this message. It was like God opened my eyes to help me see something I never fully understood before. What can God do with this corrupted piece of clay that I have given to him over the years, and believe me, it was flawed indeed. Aren't you glad that God thinks higher things about us than we often think of ourselves? I often referred to Jeremiah 2911 and reflect on these words that say: "I know the thoughts that I think of you saith the Lord; thoughts of peace and not of evil to bring you to an expected end." "An expected end"! As I see it, God gives us a promise, he stands behind that promise and brings to pass what we through faith have anticipated.
I guess the words I learned from Bill Gothard come home and I remember these words: “Please be patient, God is not finished with me yet!"
Then I think of that little song that means so much to me. I don't know who wrote it but I never forgot about it.
He's still working on me, to make me what I ought to be. It took him just a week to make the moon and stars the earth and the moon and Jupiter and Mars.
how loving and patient He must be,
Cause, he's still working on me.
I can't help getting a little emotional when I think of that song. I find myself singing it very often when I think of this flawed piece of clay that I have to offer him.
But consider just for a moment the context of all of this. Here is the potter doing what he does; making vessels from clay. And sometimes he gets a piece of clay that is not perfect and it doesn't suit the original plan that he had for it. So, instead of throwing it away, he just takes that flawed piece of clay and makes another vessel and is somehow satisfied with the outcome.
This is both a message of prophecy and looking back since that prophecy was made, it has become part of the history of Israel. It was spoken in the context of Israel being a flawed vessel in his hand, but He has not given up on them. Before them lies Babylonian captivity and that will be part of his purposes in remolding this flawed vessel. But the day came when they left Babylon. It was reluctantly. They had settled down after 70 years and became quite comfortable being in the enemy's territory. God had to use a heathen king to motivate them through threats of punishment to get them to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
The book of Ezra and Nehemiah gives us history. The marred clay has come to an expected end. But the good news is, although the enemies of God have sought to destroy her, and unfortunately for Israel, their eyes are still closed to the blessing of God.
I have given you the context of the verse and the application is very real. If you are having one of those bouts of self-deprecation, take heart. Regardless of how you think about yourself when you face all your failures, we are in the hands of a loving God who has an expected end for us. May his name be praised as we think of his great love.
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