This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you…Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching and say to them, “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired.’” (19:1-2, 10-11)
God likes to use illustrations. The potter and the clay are the picture that God uses to describe His relationship to the people of Israel in Jeremiah 18-19.
In chapter 18, God reminds Israel that He is sovereign. He is Lord. He is the potter and He can shape the clay (the nations) as He sees fit. So I went down to the potter’s house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him (18:4).
It is ironic and interesting that this past Sunday my older three boys were invited to a birthday party at a pottery place. I went with them. It was the first time I had ever seen a potter’s wheel up close or participated in the shaping of pottery. My boys had a blast. Watching them work, I learned that clay tends to harden quickly so you have to keep adding water as you work. As long as you add water, you can pretty much shape the pottery into any shape you want. Even if the pot/bowl collapses while you are working on it, it is easy to reshape it if the clay is soft.
However, once the pot is removed from the wheel and hardens, it stays in whatever shape it was in last. It cannot be changed. If it is not a good, usable pot after it hardens, then there is no reshaping it. It either has to be shelved or discarded.
That is the picture God is drawing with Israel. There was a time in their history when they were still soft and pliable in God’s hands. The water of the Word kept their hearts soft. They may have fallen at times but there was still enough respect of God’s Word in them to allow God to reshape them and raise them up again. However, later in their history, they became hardened against God. They would not listen. They did not want to hear His Word. There was nothing else God could do with them except break them, judge them, and remove them from the land.
The simple message to me today is, “How hard is my heart?” Am I still open to God’s input in my life or have I become hardened and obstinate in my ways? Do I still hear the promptings of the Spirit or have I set myself in a rut of routine that blocks out the voice of God?
I think the question also applies to my relationships with others. Am I open to the correction, advice, and input of others or have I closed myself off, convinced that I have things under control and comfortable in the patterns I have already set? I am reminded of Proverbs 13:10, Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
The hardness of my heart is measured by the openness of my ears to God and to others.
Lord, keep my heart soft and open to the promptings of Your Spirit and the input of others.