Page 54 - Fundamentals Ebook

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 elegant,
when God works with us, sometimes in His work He finds a
stubborn spot. I’m so glad that the clay was ruined in His hands.

Then Jeremiah saw something else. He saw the potter’s mind and
he saw the potter’s hand and he saw the potter’s foot and he’s about