Wednesday, January 4th

Wednesday 

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me:  “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD.  “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

-   Jeremiah 18:1-6

It is not too difficult to see what the images of the Potter and the Clay represent in this passage.  God, of course, is the Potter and we are the clay in His hands.  This is an image that is found in numerous places throughout Scripture. 

Isaiah 64:8 - Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.  

Job 10:9 - Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?

So God is the Potter and we are the clay, but what about the Wheel?  Notice that the text says that Jeremiah saw the potter “working at the wheel”.  What is the Wheel?  In a word, the wheel is – Life.  The wheel represents all of the events, circumstances, relationships, failures, successes, joys, sorrows, etc. that life brings our way, and all of it can be used by the Potter to shape us according to His will.

The actual wheel that Jeremiah would have seen was really not all that different from a potter’s wheel today.  It consisted of a large bottom wheel, usually made of stone, mounted upon a shaft that sits in a stone socket.  Coming out of this large stone wheel is an vertical wooden shaft that extends 2-3 feet with another, smaller wheel mounted on top.  The Potter, using his feet, spins the large, lower wheel.  As he does, the upper wheel is turned.  This is where the clay is placed.  As the clay turns, the Potter will place His hands upon it and shape it according to his will.

Life really does sometimes seem like a great wheel that just keeps turning and grinding endlessly on and on.  It seems that we just get past one trial when here comes another round of difficulty or pain.  These things are hard to take and can leave us confused and burdened.  God is showing Jeremiah (and us) that the Potter controls the speed of the wheels and they only rotate according to His will.  Never forget that God is still in control, even when it feels like you life is spinning out of control

One of the most beautiful aspects of this image came to me when I began to research a little about what is involved with using a potter’s wheel.  Apparently, when the wheel is turning rapidly, the Potter must never take his hands off of the clay, otherwise it would spin out shape entirely and it might even fly off of the wheel altogether.  Think about that for just a minute - while the clay spins around on the wheel, it is never out of contact with the Potter’s hands.  He is in constant contact, molding, shaping and bringing the clay along through His loving guidance. If he were to ever remove His hand, the clay would spin right off the wheel and would be lost.  Therefore, he remains there with the clay and brings along until it becomes what He desires it to be.  What a picture of the Heavenly Father!  There are times when God seems remote, removed and millions of miles away from us and from our needs.  However, He has promised us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5; Matt. 28:20).

No matter how fast the wheels spin, or what comes our way, we can rest assured that our Lord will never remove His hand from us.  He is always in touch with His clay!

Jeff Frazier