The Potter and Me

Have you ever felt crushed and didn't understand why it was happening? Listen to this:
"Arise and go down to the potter's house....Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make." Jeremiah 18:1-5
Israel is the subject of the text. Jeremiah is receiving a vision of what will be....long after Israel returns from captivity. He was seeing Israel remade, reborn, renewed. He was seeing our day and times and that sheds a massive amount of light on the heart of God.
Israel's first go-round on the potter's wheel ended with flaws, nasty chunks of rebellion, and an inability to stand upright before the potter...God! The potter chose to squish the lump and keep spinning the mass into something useful for his purposes. The new vessel began to take shape in 1948, and the more the potter spins, the more that lump will take a form that will work to the potter's desire. We know that God will continue to work on reborn Israel until the vessel is ready...but that day is coming soon.
The verse also tells us something about ourselves and our discipleship in Christ, and that is the; God doesn't give up on us as easily as we give up on ourselves, or Him. He loves us so much that he continues to spin. He even occasionally flattens us out, but he does it so that we can end up being the best vessel we can possibly be. The thing is, he does it for his own use, not ours. At times, I wish that he would mold my talents and my strengths into something stronger so that I can go where I want to go. It's not that this is a bad desire, its just not exactly what God has in mind. He spins me on the wheel so that I will conform more and more to image he wants me to have....the image that will be most useful for his purpose, not mine. You and I can have all the talents in the world, but if they are only fulfilling our own purpose, who gets the glory? What good are those strengths and talents in the grand scheme of eternity? Not much! But put the lump in the hands of the master potter and you get a masterpiece...one that is exactly what he wants, when he wants it, and for whatever use he desires. That somehow fits in the grand scheme of eternity. Don't you want to let him do that to you? I hope so.
Happy Spinning,
Pastor Jim