In the Potters Hands - Part 1 — Jenny Daniel

Clay in the Potter’s Hands

And I'm very grateful. I think before I pray, we should perhaps open our Bibles at Jeremiah 18 and then I just want to have a word of prayer. Dear Father, I just pray that Thou would come and bless us and speak to us this morning.

We thank Thee for Thy Word that has come to us already, Lord. And we ask Thee that Thou would continue, that it will not be me speaking, but that we will hear Thy voice in tenderness calling us to You today, this morning.

We want to open our ears that we may hear Thee speaking to us, Father. In Jesus' name, Amen. Now today I'm going to speak about clay and today's message is really just an introduction to tomorrow's message which will be on the process that the clay has to go through.

Now I'm sure even the smallest child knows what clay is. Whether it's Play-Doh or proper clay, I'm sure you've worked with it. When I was a child, we used to go to the hills, sort of mountains, and we used to take out the clay out of the mountains, red clay, and we used to roll it with our fingers into long sausages, very messy, out in the garden, and we used to turn it and make little bowls with it.

And let them sit out in the sun, and then later we used to pour water on it. It became hard. It was soft and pliable in our hands, but in the sun it became hard and solid. And we had these cups, rough-looking cups that we used to drink water out of.

And it was amazing to us as children to see how soft clay can become hard in the sun. Now, in Isaiah 64, verse 8, it says,. But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou the potter, and we are all the works of Thy hands.

Many times in Scripture, God speaks and refers to us as clay, and to Himself as the potter. We are clay, and He is the potter. He speaks of clay in the potter's hands. Now, we don't have to look at ourselves too closely, whether we be fat or thin or old or young.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. If we think of our hands, our eyes, our ears, our brain, we are amazingly made. But sometimes as we look at ourselves and we look at our failings, we feel like clay that's full of grime and unworthy and unappreciated by others.

But the God who formed us, the God who made us, will He not be able to remake us, each one of us, if we are willing to be submissive in His hands, into a vessel that is beautiful and fair to Him? Now today, I wonder if I can drink a bit of water.

Excuse me. Now let us go with Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 18, and we are going to visit the potter's house. God asked Jeremiah to visit the potter's house and to go and watch the clay being formed on the potter's wheel.

So, Jeremiah 18, verse 1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there will I cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter, marred in the hand of the potter.

So he made it again another vessel, as seemed good for the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Says the Lord, Behold, as clay is in the potter's hands, so are you in my hands, O house of Israel.

At what instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instance I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and plant it. If it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice, then will I repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Now therefore, go to, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I frame evil against you, and frame a device against you. Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

And they said, There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices, and we will, every one, do the imaginations of his evil heart. What a terrible response it was to the invitation of the potter.

Manasseh: The Marred Clay Restored

Now Jeremiah went to the potter's house in the time roundabout of Jeziah the king and his sons. Somewhere between Jeziah and his three sons reigns. And because God spoke of Judah as clay in the hands of the potter, just as He speaks of us as clay in the hands of the potter, I thought it would be good to look at Judah around about the time that Jeremiah went to the potter's house.

Now who was King Jeziah? King Jeziah was the grandson of Manasseh. And I'm sure you've all heard about Manasseh. He was such a wicked king. Manasseh served idols, and he caused the people to serve idols and heathen gods.

He killed priests. He killed the men of God. He was so bloodthirsty that they said the streets were literally filled with blood in the time of Manasseh. Tradition tells us that Manasseh had Isaiah cut in half.

Now we don't know if that's true, but just for tradition to say that shows us how evil he was. He dealt with wizards and wizardry. He allowed his son to pass through fire to please the god Moloch. He was an evil king, arrogantly evil.

Now there's a verse in Psalm 2 which says, Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And it does not help to resist God because God will come in judgment. And so this arrogant, evil king, the Syrians came down on Judah and we find him hiding in a thornbush.

Well, they'd just rather come down for such a king. Here he was hiding in a thornbush. The Syrians got hold of him. They shackled his hands and his legs and he's carried off into Babylon. They'd recently conquered Babylon, otherwise they would have carried him off to Nineveh.

But you know, this evil king who had done so much wrong, who was a murderer, in his captivity he repented and he sought God. And God came and He restored him. He forgave him. Remember the clay that was marred in the potter's hands?

When Manasseh repented, God forgave him and He restored him. He placed him back in Jerusalem and He broke down the idols and the gods and He served God for the last little part of his life. The amazing mercy and grace of God to take the warped clay.

Nobody is too bad for God to reach. To take the warped clay and to reform it and to restore it. Well, Manasseh's son was Ammon. Ammon was of course Josiah's father and one would think that a son who'd seen God's judgment on the evil of his father, who had seen his father repent and seek God, that this son would seek God.

But what did Ammon do? He turned his back on God and he served idols. He actually took those very broken idols that Manasseh had removed and he built them up again and he caused the nation to turn their back on God.

Ammon reigned for two years and then he was murdered by two servants who in turn were murdered again. And then we get to Josiah. Now Josiah is a wonderful picture to us of clay. As a young child of eight years old, two years his father had not served God, been evil and his father had been murdered.

And this young child determines in his heart at the age of eight that he wants to follow God. And it's so wonderful. I don't know if there are any eight-year-olds here, but he decided to follow God, to put himself in God's hands as clay.

And from the age of eight, the Bible says, he swerved not to the right hand nor to the left. And to me it's a wonderful testimony of clay put in the master's hands at a young age. Manasseh was older when he gave himself back to God and he had a life of ruin behind him.

But Josiah as a young child of eight said, I want to follow God. Now it wasn't easy. When he was twelve years old, he broke down the idols and the images and the groves and all those terrible things that the people of Judah worshipped.

But when he was eighteen, he started realizing that just as Ammon could pick up the broken pieces and rebuild them, he needs to absolutely destroy these idols so that they can never be used again. I've got a wonderful little book called The Kings of Judah and Israel and it's got many lessons around the kings of Judah and Israel.

And it says that in our homes, sins that we have repented of, we sometimes leave relics in the home, things from the past. We don't do them anymore, but our children may discover them. And like Ammon, built those idols again so they can fall for the very sins that we have left behind us.

So we must be careful that in our homes, as Josiah did, he destroyed everything that was wrong, that had to do with sin. Now how did he do that? First of all, he ground the idols to powder. Then he took the bones of the priests and he had them burnt and ground to powder.

And then he took these ashes and the ashes of the altars of the priests and he took it to a valley called the Valley of Tophet. Now Toph means drum. And this is an awful valley because they used to sacrifice children to the god Moloch.

And it's called Tophet because Toph means drum. And they used to bang the drums so loudly that they didn't hear the screams of the children. So it was a defiled valley. And so he threw the idol ashes there, knowing that the people would not go there, trying not to give them a chance to return to the evil ways.

Josiah loved God with his whole heart. But we read a scripture in Jeremiah where it shows that the people just pretended to follow God under him. Their hearts weren't turned towards him. Well, at the age of 41, Josiah dies.

Choosing the Potter Rather Than Our Own Hearts

Now Josiah was a godly king. And one would think because he was so godly that his children would follow after God. But unfortunately that is not the choice. And to me it speaks about the fact that every one of us have got to say yes to the potter.

Even though our parents are Christians, it doesn't mean to say that I'm automatically going to land in the potter's hands. I have to respond and say yes. Now, after Josiah died, the son that reigned next was called Jehoahaz.

He was the second son of Josiah. He seemed to be more popular than his older brother, so they put him on the throne. But he was not a good king and he only reigned for three months. And in those three months he was so evil that the Bible was able to say that he was a bad king.

And Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, came and just took him away into Egypt and he was taken a prisoner. So now we get to the oldest son of Josiah. Perhaps he would follow God. But he also turned his back on God and he said no to the potter as we read in Jeremiah.

We will not. We will follow the devices of our evil heart. Now, Jehoakim, God spoke to him continually through Jeremiah to try and draw him back to God. He had to pay Pharaoh Necho a lot of money to be on the throne, but he was cruel and he was selfish.

He built an enormous house and he didn't even pay his workers any money. And then God comes and he speaks to him. He sends down the young Nebuchadnezzar and he comes and he captures Jehoakim and he takes away Daniel.

Remember when Daniel and all his young men were taken away to Babylon? That was in the reign of Jehoakim. But Jehoakim pleads with Nebuchadnezzar and he is allowed to remain. But he has to pay a lot of money to Nebuchadnezzar, of course.

So God speaks to him. God calls him. God hammers him. But he does not heed God's call. He does not respond to the call of the potter. Then God speaks again and he tells Jeremiah to write on a scroll all the judgments that will come upon Judah if they do not turn and seek after God.

Well, the prince hears about the words of Jeremiah and the princes hear about it and eventually they end up in the king's chamber and he hears them read from this scroll of Jeremiah all the judgments that will come upon them if they do not heed God's call.

The king was very angry. The princes tried to stop him, but he took the scroll in his hands. He cut it to pieces and he threw it in the east. They had like a pan with coals in it and he burnt it. He tried to deaden the words of God, but he could not deaden the words of God.

And so Jeremiah wrote the scroll again and this time he added that he would die. His body would be flung in the field and nobody would mourn him. And that is exactly what happened. Nebuchadnezzar came down again.

He was captured and he dies on the way as a captive and his body was just out in the field. So the judgment of God came upon him, but God had pled with him just like God pleads with us again and again and says to us, Come, repent, come to my hands.

Well, his son Jehoiachin became the next king. He was not supposed to reign. God had said no son of Jehoiachin should reign on this throne and so he is there only for three months. Nebuchadnezzar hears about him, comes and just removes him with his mother.

But Jeremiah had warned him and this Jehoiachin then goes out to Nebuchadnezzar and gives himself up and his mother with him. And after 37 years of captivity, he is given kingly arraignment and he is given an allowance and he is allowed to eat at the king's table.

So it almost seems as if he repented in captivity after 37 years. Jehoiachin was the grandson of Jeziah, but now we get to the last son of Jeziah and he was Zedekiah. Again God speaks through Jeremiah to Zedekiah, but Zedekiah, the Bible says, was like a lion.

He just wouldn't listen. He absolutely refused to respond to God's call. And even though Jeremiah told him, give yourself over to Nebuchadnezzar, he doesn't do that. And he tries to flee and the judgment of God falls upon him.

His sons were killed in front of him by Nebuchadnezzar and his eyes were gorged out. So that's the judgment of God that fell upon him. Somewhere during the reigns of these kings, Jeremiah went to the potter's house and saw the clay as Judah, either responding to the potter or refusing the call of the potter.

And they had no excuse because God had spoken to them. And so we have got no excuse one day because God speaks to us. He speaks to us through many things and He calls us and it will be our I will not that will determine whether we one day rejoice with Him in heaven or if we do not.

But now we can learn from those kings. It's wonderful to know if we have turned our back on God and been like Manasseh, that God can restore us if we come to Him. Manasseh was evil. He was a murderer.

He did so much wrong and yet God was able to restore him and make him into a vessel fit for his use. We can learn from Josiah. Josiah was young and yet when he gave his heart so fully to God, God was able to keep him right through his life.

And that's a good message for young children to think that if you give your life to God, even though you're only eight years old or younger or older, God can keep you and make you a force for God. The potter invites us like it invited Judah, but we have to be in his hands.

We have to be willing. We have to realize our need and come to his hands. It is marvelous that I may lie within the potter's hands, that he can form and fashion me according to his plan. Isn't it a miracle that this great God wants us, human beings, us women, us children, to come to his hands so that he can form us.

The Potter as Creator

Now I thought we perhaps better stop a little bit and think of the potter. Who is this potter that is inviting you and me to come to him? The potter, I believe, is the unrecognized creator of the world, of the universe.

He is the unrecognized creator of everything. John 1 verse 3 says, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. John 1 verse 10 says, he was in the world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not.

If we look around us, I was just walking a little bit earlier and just looking at the trees, looking at everything, how can we doubt God as the creator? And that's why it says in Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. You know, to me, it's as if the trees are saying, look at us, look at how beautifully God made me. It's as if the birds are singing and they're saying, listen to our voices.

Do you listen, do you hear? Didn't he give us beautiful voices? The mountain is saying, look how solidly I am made, look at me. But one breath of his nostril could just demolish me. Do we look around us at the marvelous world that God has made?

Even though people say they do not recognize him as creator, I think that in their innermost being, they know that he is God. I was reading in Afrikaans newspaper about the bombs in London recently. I was in a home and they had a heading over there.

And one of the bystanders said that when that bomb blast went off in that bus, the person saw people on their knees calling on God. In a moment of extremity, you know there is a God. My mother loves beautiful things.

She's always loved beautiful things. And she loves pottery. And you know, she can look at a vase and she'll say, oh that's Dresden or it's Royal Dalton or it's one of those things, without looking underneath.

How does she do it? She knows the maker by the way it is made. And I think if we look around at the world around us, we recognize, we should recognize God's signature on the creation around us. And that's why God says to us, we are without excuse.

He says, I have shown you myself. My signature is there. You cannot say that I do not exist. I think it's a mockery of intelligence to say that there is no God. And God says, the fool says in his heart, there is no God.

But now for us as mothers and even those of us, most of us, all of us who know God, it's so easy, especially where I live in the center of town, to be so busy with everything that we're doing in the house, that we don't take the time to look up at the beautiful world that God has made and to appreciate his handiwork.

And I think it's important, even with our children, to draw their attention to it and to enjoy and thrill at the wonderful world that God made. When I was a child, I used to walk down to the river. It was quite a long way.

And I used to literally just stand as a child at the river like this and just look at the ridge, listen to the water, listen to the bees, listen to even the mosquitoes and the flies, and just stand still and take it all in.

It was to me so thrilling to think that this world, I'm allowed to be in this world that was made by God. So it's wonderful to know that our potter, the one who invites you and me, is not an ordinary man, but he is the omnipotent, all-powerful creator of the whole universe, the whole world and beyond the universe that we don't even know about.

The Sacrificial Potter and Redemption

The next thing we know about the potter is that he is a sacrificial potter. He is a sacrificial potter. The potter had to become clay to reach the crepe. You see, it was only his blood that could wash away the grime and dross that is in the rough lumps of clay that we are.

And so the potter gave his life so that the clay could be formed into something fit for his use. He had to give his life so that you and I can be in his hands and be formed to his glory. What a price he paid.

There's a chorus that I loved as a child that they used to sing in our camp meetings. It's part of a hymn, but it says, One day when heaven was filled with his praises, One day when sin was as dark as could be, Jesus came down to be born of a virgin, King of all kings, my redeemer is he.

And as a child has to think, to think that he left heaven to come and die for you and me. He came alone to pay for sin, mankind to save, salvation win, to drink the cup for you and me, that hour in dark Gethsemane, God satisfied through him at last, for all our sin on him were cast, that you and I could be set free because he died.

We have a sacrificial potter who was willing to give his life for the sheep. Not for the sheep, for the clay, but for the sheep as well. 1 Peter 1 verse 18 says,. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb, without blemish and without spot.

Only his blood can wash away our sins. 1 Peter 2 verse 24 says,. Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.

There was no greater gift that God could mercifully bestow, for in his Son he gave his all to sinners here below. There was no humbler place to be that first great Christmas morn, for amidst the donkeys, fodder, food, the King of kings was born.

Emmanuel, miracle of time, eternity below, that God should step into the world, our human frailties know. There was no greater gift that God in mercy could bestow, for in his Son he gave his all to sinners, to you and I here below.

We don't only have a mighty potter who is the creator of the world, but we have a sacrificial potter who gave his life so that you and I can be made whole. And the last thing we can think about of the potter is that he is not only a sacrificial potter, but he is a sympathetic potter, a compassionate potter.

The Sympathetic Potter in Temptation and Weariness

Because you see, the potter did not only come to give his life for the clay, he came to earth to go through all the processes that you and I go through, so that he can stand next to us and understand the things that you and I have to go through upon earth.

There is no temptation that we have been tested with that he has not known and experienced. It says,. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched by the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

The only difference is he had all the temptations that we had. The only difference is he didn't fail like we fail sometimes. For in that he suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Now isn't it wonderful that we have a potter that gave his blood to wash away our sins, but also a potter that knows every step of the process, every scalpel cut into us, he knows about. And therefore we can come boldly to him, we can come in brokenness, we can come weeping to him, because he knows exactly how we feel.

And that's a great comfort. Now people can be very unsympathetic. Unlike the potter, I was sitting in a meeting many, many years ago in South Africa, and it was a meeting where a missionary lady was giving instructions to the other missionary ladies.

Now this lady was very competent. There was nothing that she could not do. She was good at needlework, she was good at baking, and when I talk about baking, she made these Christmas cakes with flowers and whatever.

There was nothing she could not do. And she gave a talk to a whole lot of us on what we should do in the home, how we should be hospitable, how our homes should be decorated, and a whole rundown of things.

And in our group was a young mother, a very young mother who had two very lively children. And this young mother looks at the lady and suddenly, without thinking, she says, Oh, I just can't cope. I just can't do that.

I haven't got the time. It's impossible. You're asking the impossible of me. And this lady turned around and she said to her, Nonsense. You just make time. That's absolute nonsense. You can do it. And then I thought to myself, Isn't it wonderful that we don't have a potter that is so unsympathetic, but a potter who realizes what we can do and what we can't do.

Because I knew that lady's circumstances, and I knew that she definitely was not able to add more to her schedule. Our potter is sympathetic. He will not stretch us beyond which we can go. But sometimes we add things to our schedule that are not from his hand.

Sometimes we sink because we have added things to our program. Others have added it to our program. They put us under pressure. You feel, well, they think I'm a failure if I don't add this and this and this and do as much as the person next door.

And it isn't from God. And then we can't blame God if we collapse under that pressure. I know the load is heavy, child. Too much. You're plain to cry. Bow down. You stumble beneath the weight. Each step a long, drawn sigh.

Within your load so many things that I have not decreed, you add each task as if you were a superhuman breed. My precious child, I would not give loads that would crush and blight. Leave off the ones that come from you and find my burden light.

And sometimes we've got to be ruthless and just cut out things that don't come from his hands because he does not expect us to be superhuman. So don't let us drive ourselves and blame God for it. The Lord said to the disciples, come apart and rest a while, didn't he?

And, you know, sometimes at home the program is very busy and sometimes I just say to myself, it's a be kind to journey day. And I take part of the day off and I read a book or I go for a walk or I just go and have a cup of tea and I'm just quiet.

And I have the liberty to do this because I know that the potter understands that I am clay and that I need to sometimes just take a break. And we must be kind to ourselves. I say to people, you're not made of stainless steel.

You're flesh and blood and you must be kind to yourself. And I'm not talking about laziness. I'm talking about exhaustion. When you're exhausted, be wise and don't blame God if you don't rest a while, as he told the disciples to do.

Mercy for Those Defiled by Sin

But now the potter is sympathetic in a very important area of our lives. We said he was in all points tempted like as we are. And he knows what temptation is. Adam and Eve were the first two lumps of clay.

They were perfect lumps of clay, but they yielded to temptation and they became mired and full of sin and we've suffered ever since. But he was tempted in all points like as we are. I was in a meeting and I was quoting the poem about the woman in sin.

It was thy mercy that looked down on her not to condemn. Thy voice, the angry cries to stem. And shamefully they dropped each stone that she did stand amazed alone. Thy blood for her could yearn atone.

Thy grace could make her fit for home. O love that sees the erring soul and gently comes to make it whole. It was thy mercy that looked down on her and in her bosom hoped it stir. For did the master not implore, go my child and sin no more.

And I was quoting this in a, it was actually not such a nice circumstance. It was in a coffee shop with a few ladies and the other people weren't part of the little ladies gathering. So it was very embarrassing.

But as I was giving this poem, I saw before me suddenly a girl, a young girl, who'd obviously fallen into sin. And as I looked at it, it suddenly just didn't become a poem about a woman in the Bible times, but a poem about a woman today.

And I realized that as the mercy of the Lord looked on that woman, many years ago in New Testament times, so the mercy of God looks down on women today, women who have fallen. Sometimes people have fallen and they're able to hide it.

That girl couldn't hide it. But others hide it. But the potter knows and he's longing to take that clay and remake it and restore it and make it into something beautiful. I was in a church and a lady was speaking about her work among street women.

And when she'd spoken, she said, now the women, I've got a few of them here that have been reclaimed. She not only reaches them, but she takes them off the streets when they've repented and she helps them get jobs.

And she said, but one of these ladies has been willing to testify. So one of these ladies came forward. She was modestly dressed. She spoke in a soft, gentle voice and she quietly praised God for taking her out of the dregs of sin from the streets and restoring her and reclaiming her life.

You know, when I looked at her, I thought it can't be. This couldn't have been a woman of the streets. She was so changed. And that is what the potter can do. That is what the potter can do. There's nobody that is unreachable by him.

Sometimes we've found in letters that have come to us that things have happened in childhoods to people. Things have happened in their home. Things that children didn't have control over. They didn't have the strength to fight.

And now they feel so defiled. They feel that there's hope for others, but God can do nothing with me. That woman from the streets sinned because she chose to sin. But when she repented, God reclaimed her.

How much more shall he reclaim anyone who repents of things that might have happened in the past? I think it's such a miracle that this potter wants you and me. He's creator. He gave his life. He went through all the things that we go through.

And he longs for us to acknowledge our need of him. Our need of him. To show that we know that we are full of grime and sin and that we need him to redeem us and to place ourselves in his hands. God called Judah and they said no.

God calls us and we say yes or no. Dear God, thy infinite power and might shine forth from the worlds upon our sight. Just a word and the heavens were put in place with the sun, moon and stars suspended in space.

Not a fraction too close, not a fraction too far. For cold scorching heat, thy creation to mark. The glory of mountains with heads in the sky. The fast flowing rivers, the streams running by. The elephant, the lion, the leopard, the bear.

With myriads of others thy glory declare. The wonder of snow so pure and so light that whitens the suit of the world in a night. Yet man, thy creation, so wondrously wise wanders through earth with blinded eyes.

A God of might, a God that's pure. A holy God he'll not endure. Man with gods of own creation fills his path with degradation. He does not heed the warning cry of nature sounding up on high. Beware as thou dost saunter on.

O man, thy time will soon be gone and thou shalt stand before the throne of him, creator, God alone. God spoke to his Agida. They would not listen to him except in the time of Josiah and that was only with their lips.

And the judgment of God fell upon them. Today God speaks to us as a compassionate potter, as a sacrificial potter, as an almighty potter. But one day we will stand before him and he will not be holding out his hands to us but he will be the judge if we have said no to him.

And it is an awesome thing to say no to the almighty God. He's longing to change every one of us. And there's none of us that is beyond his power to change and to make into something beautiful. And I think each one of us wants to be beautiful for him.

Come, says the voice of the potter, warped and defiled though you be, I can reform and remake you, rid you from dross and debris. Come, says the voice of the potter, fair though you be in your eyes, you will not last in the furnace lest in my hands you do lie.

Come, says the voice of the potter, I have a pattern to do, fair is the shape of the vessel I have envisaged for you. Amen.