“The Potter and the Clay” is often presented as a nice homily on how God patiently shapes and reshapes His people until He makes them perfect. It’s a pleasant picture showing God’s skilful hands removing our imperfections, until we are flawless (Jeremiah 18:1-4).
But God’s message to Jeremiah was not a pleasant one, in that it identified the clay vessel as “the house of Israel” in His hands, and that the reason why the vessel was spoiled and needed reshaping was the people were evil and disobedient. Moreover, that the heavenly potter who shaped and reshaped His people would change His good intention toward them unless they repented.
The preachers’ homily on “The Potter and the Clay” too often edits God’s warning to them through Jeremiah, and so removes the link to Romans, where the apostle Paul argues against those who question God’s purpose for His people. “Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay…?” (Romans 9:20, 21)
Paul’s reference to pottery in his argument on Israel’s rejection and God’s purpose has no link to the preachers’ homily on “The Potter and the Clay.” The link becomes clear, however, when the whole of God’s warning to Jeremiah is included (Jeremiah 18:4-11).
So, let’s not simplify God’s dire warning against wilful evil by reducing it to a potter’s ability to shape and reshape his work until he is happy with the result. This is not about our comfort or discomfort as His hands skilfully remove the things that displease Him, but rather about whether or not we submit to Him completely, like clay in the potter’s hands. A clay jar is inanimate, and so cannot question its creator.
With this in mind, let’s take a fresh look at “The Potter and the Clay.”
The prophet Jeremiah saw that the clay was still soft, which meant that the potter could reshape it. However, the hearts of the house of Israel hardened. “And they said, That’s hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and everyone will do what his evil heart dictates.” (Jeremiah 18:12)
Figuratively speaking, the pot said to the potter, “I like myself the way I am!” So the potter removed his foot from the wheel and stopped working, leaving the distorted and unfinished pot to harden. Have you said that to the Lord? Have you said, “Praise and worship leave me cold”, or “I don’t get anything out of the Bible, so I’ve stopped reading it”, or “I don’t pray because God doesn’t listen”? Worst of all: “God, just go away and leave me alone!”
“Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept rebuke will suddenly be broke, and that beyond repair.” (Proverbs 29:1) There’s a sequel to “The Potter and the Clay,” but it’s hardly the stuff of homilies.
“Thus says the LORD: Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests. And go out to the valley of Hinnom, near the Gate of Broken Pottery, and speak the words I tell you.” (Jeremiah 19:1)
The valley of Hinnom was the scene of unspeakable human sacrifices made by the idolatrous to the merciless god Molech. It was a place godly Jews detested. The Gate of Broken Pottery was so named because the potters who worked nearby threw their hardened, cracked and unwanted jars onto a pile of broken pottery. An imperfect but still soft work can be reshaped, but once hardened is useless — and might just as well be thrown out.
Jeremiah is called the Prophet of Doom because of prophecies such as this one. He proclaimed that God’s judgement would be catastrophic and show how angry He was at their disgusting crimes. So much so that the valley would afterwards be renamed, The Valley of Slaughter. The merciless Babylonians would execute God’s judgement on the people and on their city.
“Then you shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who are with you, and say to them, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again’…” (Jeremiah 19:10,11)
Over the years I have witnessed many who began as the softest of clay in the Master’s tender, skilful hands, only to become hard and unusable and end up on the pile of broken human ‘pottery’. So much promise, yet fatally flawed. Since God puts His treasure in earthen vessels, we are pottery people, so to speak, and are here to be filled with God’s excellence. God puts His treasure in earthen vessels.
How then to stay soft? A private life of prayer, a willingness to show mercy and to forgive, and an awareness of the Divine presence are factors, as are inspiring books and uplifting music. What hardens the heart? My list would have to include cold unconcern, unyielding criticism, inflexible attitudes, and a hard-set cynicism toward everyone and everything Christian.
The prophet Jeremiah saw that change was possible while the clay was still soft, the wheel was still turning, and the potter was still working. When these things ceased, change was no longer possible. Of what use is a cracked pot (crackpot)? God’s precious vessels may be earthen, but they are to be well crafted and properly proportioned.
This message is prophetic, in that it speaks to those whose hearts are beginning to harden. The prophet cannot work the clay or the wheel — only The Master Potter can do that. The Sovereign Lord holds your life in His cupped hands, and ever so gently, skilfully and patiently reshapes it … until it is flawless.
Jeremiah’s prophecy is not a feel-good homily, but rather the Creator’s invitation to those who are still soft enough and malleable enough to submit to His hands. It was issued with an undercurrent of deep sorrow for those who were too hard for even their Maker to change.
The Potter can still change those who are soft enough for Him to gently rework their spiritual condition. Are you one of them? God loves a soft soul. Allow Him to remake you, while He still can.