Jeremiah 18 -- Is It US?

God told Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house for a lesson.  As the pottery wheel was spinning and the pot was beginning to take shape, something went wrong – the clay resisted the potter’s hand, so that the pot was ruined.  With patience, the potter took what remained of the design and kneaded it back into a ball of clay and started again to form another pot.

 

God said about the nation of Judah at the time, “Can’t I do the same thing with you?”

 

Then He said something that made me shake my head in wonder this morning:

 

“There may come another time when I will speak about a nation that I will build up and plant.  But if I see it doing evil by not obeying Me, I will change My mind and not carry out My plans to do good for them … I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you.  So stop doing evil.  Change your ways and do what is right.”  But the people will answer, “It won’t do any good to try!  WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO WHAT WE WANT.  Each of us will do what his stubborn, evil heart wants!”

 

God continued, “My people have forgotten me … They walk along back roads and on poor highways [He wasn’t referring to deteriorating infrastructure.  I think He’s saying that they are settling for less than the best He has for them – for instance, they could be traveling on an interstate highway instead!]…. At that awful time, they will not see Me coming to help them; they will see Me LEAVING.”

 

Pay attention to those italicized parts above!

 

We can watch how Jeremiah reacted and judge it against how we react today.  “There is a righteous anger against sin that is acceptable to God.  Psalm 97:10 says, “You who love the Lord, hate evil!”  “Righteous anger turns the matter over to God and seeks to help the offender.  Anguish is anger plus love,” my commentary said.

 

Father, I can see that, rather than becoming the vessel You intended for us to be – to carry Your message to the world as we once did – our nation too has become warped and misshapen.  We are clay in Your hands, yet as a nation, like the stubborn clay, we resist You.  Do what You must as our sovereign God to reform us and make us into what You had originally planned.  Don’t let us resist You and Your love!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford