The Potter’s Mistake {Jeremiah 18}

Did you ever hear the story in Jeremiah 18 of the potter who made a mistake one day?

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.”

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!”

Jeremiah 18:1-6, NKJV

Imagine yourself as that potter. You’re probably pretty experienced, and you probably don’t make many mistakes. But one day the prophet drops by to watch you work, and it just so happens, that is the day you mess up the pot you’re making, so much that you have to start all the way over.

Now, a clay pot isn’t too big of a deal, but just imagine that’s a situation in your life: At a time when things should go well, suddenly they go completely awry. You wonder what happened, and you’re not quite sure just where to pick up the pieces.

But sometimes God allows something bad just so we can watch Him turn it into something amazing.

At the end of the story in Jeremiah, God, through the prophet, uses the clay pot story to illustrate a beautiful truth: He will mold us, remake us, over and over again, until we are just what He wants us to be.

And if some potter hadn’t messed up a clay pot one day, we wouldn’t understand.