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GiveA Stewardship Devotion...
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. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. In this reading, Jeremiah has been living from one tough spot to the next. As soon as one of his issues is solved, another one pops up. God is asking him to relay message after message to the children of Israel and not many of these messages are being received very well. So what does God do? Jeremiah is invited to go to another place so that God can give him another unpopular message to pass on. At the beginning of chapter 18, God sends Jeremiah down to the potter's house in order to hear the next message. The very next line-in verse 3-shows where Jeremiah's heart is: "So I went..." There's no bargaining with God-that comes later!!-and no hesitation. God says "Go!" and Jeremiah responds immediately by going. When he gets to the potter's house, the artisan is working on a new piece, but the crafting isn't going very well. The clay was "marred in his hands" so the potter re-formed the piece into something new and beautiful. As people of faith, we have an opportunity to see ourselves just like that piece of marred clay. We are marred, but we rest in the potter's-God our Creator's-hands. What happens to the clay can happen to us as well-the potter can re-form us into another pot. But here's the key: the potter shapes us as seems best to his eye! In other words, we don't transform ourselves. Rather, God re-shapes us into the beautiful vessel that only God can envision. Notice something that isn't in the reading: the potter doesn't add more clay! The potter has all the clay that's needed for the re-shaping. And doesn't that support the way God loves us? Every good thing we need to live the life of faith will be supplied for us. Scripture promises this in Exodus 16:18, where the children of Israel are gathering manna: "And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed." 2 Corinthians 9:8 underscores that promise from a New Testament perspective: "And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work." As you think about this re-shaping, consider how our congregation is like the clay that the potter re-forms. Remind yourself that you have everything you need, we have everything we need, just like God has promised. The question before us is will we hold tightly or loose our grip that God’s good work may be done? |