I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:
TO BE THE POTTER (part 4)
Jeremiah 18:4 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
The fifth thing we see in this passage is the POTENTIAL:
“So, he made it again”. Can I have an “AMEN” right there. The Potter did not give up on the vessel, and God does not give up on us. In fact, if I could describe how God has been with me, I could say ‘He made me again and again and again and again…”. The Potter did not throw the vessel away. Maybe in your life right now you are feeling like you are a broken vessel. Maybe you failed to hold up to the pressures of the process. Maybe you rebelled against the “Potter”. I encourage you today, He will make you again. What I find encouraging here is that the potter is making it into another vessel. In other words, he did not take a broken vessel and decided to use it for something less. He didn’t make it into an ashtray or a coaster. He made it “another vessel”. Despite how bad we have messed up, God still has a wonderful plan for our life. He still wants us to be filled. He still wants us to be useful. He still has a purpose for our life. Look at these verses:
Psalm 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
The potter would not have used his time remaking this vessel if he did not believe it could be useful again. He would not have made the effort if he did not feel it was worth it. However, let me make this detail clear. He had to put this vessel through the same process again. Yes, we have messed up, and yes God will make us again, but we will have to go through the pressure, friction, and molding process again. Often, we regret the mistakes we have made, but we don’t ever really make a change in our life. We still rebel against the process. God will make another vessel out of our lives, but we must submit to Him for that to happen. I have counseled with many people that feel guilt, and have regret, in the way that they have rebelled against the word of God and selfishly chosen a path based on the desires of their flesh. They see the problem it has caused, and the emptiness it has left in their life, but as God forgives and begins to make them again, they end up making the same decisions, same rebellion, and same choices.
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked…. in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
This describes an individual that God has made repeated attempts to remake them into the vessel that He has chosen. God is able to be the “Potter”, He is trying to be the “Potter”, but will you let Him be the “Potter”.