THE POTTER AND I

 

Jeremiah 18:1-6 GNB

The LORD said to me, “Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message.” So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else. Then the LORD said to me, “Haven't I the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.

     

     A simple definition of a Potter is “a maker of vessels”. The Hebrew word for potter is translated as “former” i.e someone who create someone. He moulds. On the other hand, Clay is defined as “an earthen material that is sticky and easily moulded when wet and hard when baked. As Christians, we know that God is the Potter and we, as his creatures are his Clay. The mistake most people make is that they don't know the difference between clay and pot. Let's look at this concept figuratively. Clay is like “i don't know who I am but I know I exist. I don't know what I'm to be used for but I know that I'm here”. Pot is like “i Know who I am. I am a pot. I am meant for storing water only”. Many Christians behave like a pot and not clay. We tend to say this often, “ i'm a clay in the hands of the Potter. He is moulding me”. We say this with our mouths but we act like pots. A clay doesn't make decisions on it's own. A clay is humble. A clay doesn't dictate it's usage or what it should be moulded into. A clay doesn't have it's own being or existence but becomes only what the Potter ask it to be. A pot already dictates what it should be used for. Check yourself! Am I a pot or a clay in the hands of the Potter?

   

     Going back to our text (Jeremiah 18:1-6), we will be doing a little study together. Verse one, “The Lord said to me(Jeremiah), go down to the Potter's House where I'll give you my message”. Why did the Lord told him to go down? Why not go up? This shows that the Potter doesn't stay at the top. He is a below man because life doesn't start at the top! It starts from below. From the basis. God is the Potter. The expression of God as a Potter is not something high. It is a low state. God has to come down to us like a mother to her child. He took the initiative to come down and start our lives from below. No life started from the top. Even Adam was brought out of the dust of the ground. This is to show that for God to make your life according to his plans for you, he doesn't take you to the top first, he starts your life from the lowest point. He comes down to you in a way you can relate and understand. Waoh! What a great love. Go down and not up. For you to find God, you need to be humble. For you to know God, you need to go deeper in him. The more you go deep in God, the more he raises you. You will be so wise that the more he raises you, the more you go down in him i.e the more you should go deeper in him. It is in your going deeper with God, that's where you will hear him the more. That's where he will give you his message.

     Verse 2-3, “so I went there, and saw the Potter working on his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turn out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else. This is the part I'm really going to emphasize on. The potter is always moulding every time because it is by his works that destinies are made, life are shaped and resharpened. When you were made, you had a particular shape. He made you that way. But as you grow, you get resharpened. This is the junction where the devil comes in to fight the space of God in you. The devil can't create! But he can reshape a creature. The whole creation is a mystery to him. What he does is that, he will let God do his things in you, then he will now come through the open space you provided for him and then he starts to reshape you. The target of the devil is your mind. If he has that with him, they he has control over you. The truth is this; God doesn't expect you to be perfect! He just wants you to follow him. He knows we can make mistakes thats why he doesn't count our mistakes. He knows we can fall. That's why he picks us up anytime we fall. He doesn't expect you to be perfect. Just follow him. What the devil does is that he uses your imperfections to Poison your mind against God that you must be perfect. That's Why after you ask for forgiveness from God, you still feel this hole in ur heart. That's the work of the devil. He brings partitions between you and God. Jesus came to break that. So stop letting the devil to cajole you. Stop letting him to Poison your soul. God gat you. Don't be afraid of your mistakes. Don't let him use ur mistakes against you because God doesn't count it. 

 

     Many of us has fallen into countless sins. You want to get out of the shackles of sin and condemnation. I want you to release yourself to God. Many ask for forgiveness from God but they don't forgive themselves. You need to forgive yourself and let God work in you again. Let him remove all impurities in you. Let him break you and seive you. Let him remove every scrumps in you. You know when a Potter wants to start moulding, he adds water to make it sticky. That water is the holy spirit. He fills you with his spirit so that he will be able to relate his plans and purpose to you per season and time. Remember, one of the emblems of the spirit is water. He purifies you and start moulding you again. After moulding, for the pottery to be strong, it must pass through fire. This is where most people turn back again. God doesn't want anything bad to happen to you but the devil will throw different challenges at you. Now listen to this, nothing ever happens to a man without a permission. The devil tested Job with God's permission. God is aware of every storms in your life. The devil thought that those challenges will make him to have you but if you stay with God, those challenges will be turned to glory. When a Potter puts his pottery into furnace, he watches over it. When the fire becomes too hot that it might break the pottery, he stops it. That's it. God permits certain challenges in your life so that you can be strong. He won't leave you there cos he is there with you. He won't allow the devil to test you more than your capacity. He won't let you walk through the fire that will burn you. He is there with you. Now, look at this, anytime you fall into one challenges or the other, see yourself as a pottery in a furnace and God sitting with you and watching over you. Tell yourself, God is with me. I am not afraid. See God telling you it's just for a while. When you bring out a pottery from fire, it sparkles. It becomes more beautiful. That's it! Challenges make you more beautiful. It takes fierceness to produce a fine pottery. Glory comes after challenges. So don't be afraid. Tell yourself God is here! No matter what the devil throws into my Court, I won't be afraid cos I have God. He is in my court. I'm not afraid. Every challenges is to unleash the glory of God in me. I'm a clay in the Potter's hand. I am a work in progress. I'm not afraid! I've got God. 

If you are blessed by this, kindly comment below. You can also share your experience with me via monisola4321@gmail.com

God bless you!