Jeremiah 18 -- Sometimes Agreeing With God May Seem UnChristlike

I loved the image God showed Jeremiah of the potter destroying a forming clay pot that wouldn't comply with what the potter's hands desired, and then watching as the potter used the same clay to create another, perfect pot.  My commentary said, "The interpretation of the image was national, relating to Israel, but the application was individual, calling for a response from the people of Judah.  It also calls for a personal response from us today."

"God presented two scenarios that illustrated His sovereign power over nations.  If He threatened to judge a nation and that nation repented, then He would relent and not send judgment... On the other hand, if He promised to bless a nation ... and that nation did evil in His sight, then He could withhold the blessing and send judgment instead ... He has the sovereign freedom to alter His actions depending on the responses of the people."

"But the people were so chained to their sins that they chose to follow their own evil plans.  They would rather worship dead idols andsuffer for it than serve the true and living God and enjoy His blessings!  Truly, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked!  In rejecting their God and choosing dumb idols, the people of Judah were acting contrary to everything reasonable ... God made them for Himself and they could not succeed apart from Him ... They were willing to enjoy God's blessings but not willing to obey the laws of God that governed those blessings."

"Like the patient potter, God is willing to mold us again when we resist Him and damage our own lives ... the victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.  No failure in our lives need be fatal or final, although we certainly suffer for our sins."

Jeremiah complained privately to God about the people's plans to ruin him with lies.  When he began to ask God to let bad things happen to them, he wasn't doing so out of spite, so much as he was beginning to agree with God about what God was saying about them.

Father, Jeremiah was going through a lot of tough times, and I feel that You've timed my reading of this perfectly.  Help me to see You working on me, changing things up for what You have in mind next.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford