Jeremiah 18:1-17, Judah in the Potter’s Hands

It is pretty amazing to watch a skilled potter shaping clay.

^18:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: 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 Yahweh came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. ⁷ If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, ⁸ and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

God shapes the destiny of nations like a potter shapes pottery. If the nation, not just Israel or Judah, but any nation, is so wicked that God announces it demise, yet it repents of its evil, God will reshape it. If a nation is to be built up in righteousness but then does evil, God will reshape that nation for destruction.

¹¹ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what Yahweh says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ ¹² But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

Yahweh, the Divine Potter, has announced destruction for Judah, for her evil ways, but even yet she can repent and He will relent. However, Judah, in essence, says, “We can’t quit being evil.”

¹³ Therefore this is what Yahweh says:

“Inquire among the nations: Who has ever heard anything like this? A most horrible thing has been done by Virgin Israel. ¹⁴ Does the snow of Lebanon ever vanish from its rocky slopes? Do its cool waters from distant sources ever stop flowing? ¹⁵ Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways and leave the ancient paths. They made them walk in byways, on roads not built level. ¹⁶ Their land will be an object of horror and of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads. ¹⁷ Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.” (Jeremiah 18:1-17)

Yahweh must bring disaster upon His virgin daughter (a young woman of marriageable age who is still under the legal supervision of her father). She has not remained under her Father’s supervision but left the ancient path and followed side roads and byways of idolatry. The land and her people will suffer greatly, Yahweh turning His face from her in rejection.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Does it seem to you that you are being shaped by God?
2. God’s sovereign shaping process seems to be affected by our choice to follow the right path. How do you put these two things together?
3. Have we seen an announcement from God, good or bad, about our own nation?
4. What is your personal assessment of where our nation is spiritually?