The vessel was marred in the hand of the potter, so he….

She wanted to know if she had totally messed up God’s will for her life, and I pointed her to this passage from Jeremiah 18:1ff. Over and over Israel had caused itself to stumble in its ways, from His ancient paths (verse 15). The Lord had sent Jeremiah down to the potter’s house to see him at work on his wheel. And the vessel he was making was marred (spoiled) in the potter’s hand, so he “made it into another vessel, as it seemed good to him” (verse 4). The Lord then speaks to Israel through Jeremiah asking rhetorically “Can I not do with you as this potter?” In terms of application, He can do that with us too, since He is the potter, and we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8).

There are consequences to our rebellion of course. We reap painful fruit from our poor choices (Galatians 6:7). But in application of the principle in verse 8, if we turn from our wicked ways He will relent. In particular “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). He does not however take away the consequences. If a young girl fools around, gets pregnant and then turns to the Lord, she is forgiven, but she is still pregnant! And that pregnancy may mess up God’s original plan for her life. It was God’s plan that His servant Israel be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6). When that vessel was marred, He made Israel the vessel that would bring forth the suffering servant the Messiah, to be the light to the nations (John 8:12).

So has our hypothetical pregnant girl completely blown it? Not at all, and this is where the “so He” comes in. When we mess up big time He will change the plan. It will not be the same plan, but it will be a good plan, a plan to give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). Sometimes things get messed up from no fault of our own. Sexual abuse is never God’s plan. Yes He allows it, and we may have to wrestle, and wrestle greatly with why He allows that. But God has a way of turning things round if we let Him, if we choose to trust Him in spite if all (Romans 8:28 again). There is a recovery saying that God never wastes a hurt. He came to heal broken hearts and to set the prisoners free (Luke 4:18). And He wants to use our healing and freedom to show others the way! Becoming whole is Kingdom work in and of itself!

Father, part of what messes things up is when (as we all do at time) we get out of the centre of Your will. The clay being off centre makes the potter’s job very hard if not impossible.To mix metaphors for a moment, we come as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), but then mess up bi-times by crawling off the alter. Father I ask You to strengthen us this morning so that we may give to You a long obedience in the same direction. And we will give You the Glory in Jesus Name Amen