AUGUST 15, 2011

JEREMIAH 16-18 Let’s identify with Jeremiah in Chapter 16:
“We should give God the same place in our hearts that He holds in the universe.” Cherish is a word that comes from a root meaning “to hold dear”. What do you cherish? Make a list…at least five of those things which you REALLY cherish in your life. Then comes the all important question: Do you cherish these things higher/deeper/more than you cherish the Lord Jesus Christ in your life?
Jeremiah was told to give up all such things – marriage, attending funerals and attending feast (celebrations)…16:2, 5, 8. Rather lonely life, wouldn’t you agree? [Bottom line…with his commission, who would invite him anyway?]
Jersus told his disciples, “If you love your father and mother…so or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine” Matt. 10:37…Was He saying “Run away from homne, divorce your spouse, and give up your children to follow Me?” NOT AT ALL! Rather, “If there is something…anything…even the thing you cherish most in life…that is more important than following Me, then don’t follow Me. If I cannot be first with you, then you are not truly available to Me.” [does NOT mean that we are to cherish others less, but cherish Him MORE and MOST!]
Our emphasis today is the visual Jere gives us in Chapter 18…the Potter and the Clay. “The clay is not attractive in itself but when the hands of the potter touch it, and the thoughts of the potter is brought to bear upon it and the plan of the potter is worked out in it and through it, then there is a real transformation.” J. Wilbur Chapman
Jere awakened on an ordinary day, he was told to go to the potter’s house. When he gave the words of the Lord to others, the policeman of the temple, the priest, Pashur viewed him as a troublemaker and Jere’s reward was to spend the night in stocks.
When YOU and I follow the Lord, you never know what will happen to you next! “He did not get his flash of insight while he was praying but while he was watching a potter engaged in his daily work. God reveals Himself in strange places and at unexpected seasons. For instance, He once revealed Himself in a stable.” Charles E. Jefferson
The potter molds the clay with his hands on a wheel which he is moving with the power of his feet. When a bulge/knot in the vessel comes to the feel of his hands, he stops the wheel and cuts out the problem. No matter the problem, he deals with it…he remakes until he gets it right.
The Potter of our lives is in perfect control! He will “cut away” (sin) that interferes with the beauty of our lives (indwelt with His life). There is a major difference between a human (the Christian on the wheel of life) and clay that is on a potter’s wheel. The human can resist the work of the Potter. To be sure there is mystery involved in the relationship between divine Sovereignty of God and human responsibility but we don’t have to explain the will of God before we obey it! We live by divine promises and precepts not theological explanations and God is not obligated to explain anything to us…if He did, we probably would not be able to grasp it.
Feelings of hopelessness can pervade our lives…some to the extreme of suicidal thoughts and actions. Depression is all around us…the antidepressants and such business is booming. If we are honest we ourselves, we know that we have ‘blown it many times, regret past failures and often dwell on them. The good news is that the Lord can and wants to help us move beyond our sins (which we repent and confess and should set aside as He does) … He is the Master Potter Who wants to continue to remake, re mold and fashion each of us into the vessel that He desires us to be!!!!
If we obey more – He reveals more. John 7:17
God uses many hands to mold our lives – parents, siblings, teachers, preachers, authors…and so forth.
The interpretation – written to the Israelites, but the application was individual. It called for a response from the people of Judah and Jerusalem and it calls for a personal response from YOU and me TODAY!
Is gratefulness a part of your everyday life?
Are you grateful for the Lord does not reject us when we fail but patiently works to make us what He wants us to be…He never gives up on us…”Repent, Confess and let Me re-make!”
Are you grateful that the Lord has the power to change the course and outcome of your life when you choose to obey Him?
Are you grateful for His willingness to remake your flawed life by changing your behavior patterns?
“You cannot, but the precious Lord—the indwelling Holy Spirit—will live His life out through you as you yield to His work in you!”