Page 51 - Back to Bethlehem

I would like to invite you to use your imagination and to
come with me and the prophet to the potter’s house. What did he
see? Jeremiah 18:3, “Then I went down to the potter’s house,
and there he was, making something on the wheel.” The potter
was making something on the wheel. Jeremiah didn’t know what
but the potter knew what he was making. The clay didn’t know
but the potter knew. He was making something on the wheel. In
his mind the potter had a plan. He had a blueprint and he had a
purpose. He knew the end. There was nothing arbitrary. He was
making something.

When I was a child I played with modeling clay. I was
not a potter. My uncle would come and say (they called me
“Butchie”), “Butchie, what are you making.?” I said, “What does
it look like?” He said, “It looks like a turtle.” I said, “Okay, I’m
making a turtle.” They would ask again, “What are you
making?” And I would take the another piece of clay and I was
asked, “Butchie, is that an ash tray?” I said, “Yes.” I had no
plan. I made a ball. I made a pancake. I made a snake but I had
no purpose.

When Jeremiah went to the potter’s house he saw the
mind of potter and that he was making something. It’s not a game
with God. Pottery is His vocation. It’s not His hobby. He’s not
trying to amuse Himself with clay. You are not an experiment
with the Lord. When He deals with us, He has in His mind what
He is doing. He’s determined to make each of us according to
His purpose and knowing how great the Lord is, it’s a wise and
loving purpose. The clay doesn’t know what is going on. It’s
not going to help for the clay to get fussy and complain. The clay
can’t kick and rebel and can’t murmur. It knows nothing.
Especially, the clay can’t give the potter advice. The clay must
just allow the potter to do what He is doing. That’s the first thing
that He say; that He was making something. He saw the potter’s
mind.

As he watched he saw something else. Jeremiah 18:3,
“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was,
making something on the wheel.” He saw the potter’s hands and