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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 another piece of clay and 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 the 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
said; 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 the hands were working with the clay; sometimes on the
outside and sometimes on the inside. And He observed a very
skillful hand. Sometimes He would press and sometimes He
would scrape off some clay. Sometimes He would pound it.
He would poke the clay and scrape the clay and move the clay
and sometimes it seemed gentle and sometimes it seemed hard.
He began to see that when the pressure was the greatest the
vessel was most unique.
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