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Jeremiah watched the potter. He saw his mind and that
he had a purpose. He saw his hands and saw that he had skill.
But then he kept looking and he saw something else. The clay
was on a wheel. It was called a throwing wheel. In those days
there was no electric motor. In fact, there were no pedals. They
had two wheels; a small wheel on top and a large wheel on the
bottom and there was a vertical shaft between the two wheels.
The clay was put on the top wheel and you saw the potter’s foot;
it was kicking the wheel. The foot decided how fast it would
go. As he’s watching the potter, he’s watching the clay go
around and around. He sees skillful hands and he sees a
controlling foot moving that wheel. The clay is getting dizzy.
You are the clay! We don’t know what God is doing!
We are spinning around and around and we’re confused.
Sometimes He scrapes us and sometimes there is pressure in
our life but we’re always spinning and wondering what is going
on. The potter knows. The potter is skillful. The potter is in
control. Jeremiah kept looking. The clay didn’t know what was
going on and when he looked he saw something else.
Jeremiah 18:4, “But the vessel that he was making of
clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into
another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.” That was a
surprise! The potter who knew the clay, the potter that was so
skillful, the potter who was in control, all of a sudden the clay
is ruined in His hands. I want to make one little explanation
here.
When you think of the vessel being ruined, usually we
think of a shard or a broken piece of vessel. But that’s the vessel
after the kiln. This is not after the fire. That’s a different
revelation of Jesus. That’s Jesus the Smelter, not Jesus the
potter. That’s a message all its own. This is the clay on the
wheel. As it was being formed there was a hard spot on the
clay. If the potter were only making a ball, that stubborn spot
may never have been discovered. In the clay there was maybe
a hair, a piece of straw, a stone. If he were only making a ball,
the potter would never find that hard piece of clay. Because
he’s making a beautiful vessel, like Christ, embellished, and
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