By Pastor Joe Balaan
~~
There are times that we feel discouraged and down. In the bible, there’s one man who felt the same way. Jeremiah—for over 50 years in his ministry he only had 3 companions while everyone else doesn’t believe him. He has been prophesying long before Babylonians conquered Israel but Israel never listened. Jeremiah’s life was threatened and he was being chased, just because he believes in the Lord. If there is someone in the Bible who can complain and give up, it is Jeremiah but he did not give up, he fulfills the Lord’s calling.
Jeremiah 18 will tell us how God delivered His message to Jeremiah through the potter.
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 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.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”
One principle that we can take from here is we must always remember that it is God who’s shaping us. Forming us in His very hands. Since God is our potter, we should know our callings, how He plans us to be and keep a hold on to it.
Maybe why Jeremiah didn’t lose faith is because it is clear to him that God is calling him to fulfill His will.
The second principle we can take from our passage is our situation is being used as an instrument to hone us. Notice how a potter press and mold clay in the wheel to perfect his creation. Just like God to us His children, we are being put to situations that will mold us closer to Him and a better life.
The third principle, we must know that we are like clay that is on the process of being shaped by God.
The purity of the clay affects how he can be mold or the durability once used. The temperature the clay can withstand affects the quality.
People can tell that Christians are problem-free but being a Christian is full of rejections, discouragement, and frustration. But we must know that God allows these things to happen to us so that in us will reflect His glory and power. We can withstand difficult situations and any pressure as long as we put Him in the center of everything.
Comments