God Hasn’t Given Up On Us. He Looks Beyond What We Are Now. He Sees What We Will Become.

Jeremiah 18:1-23
‘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’(4). This is what the Lord is doing in our lives. He is ‘the Potter’. We are no more than ‘jars of clay’(6; Isaiah 64:8; 2 Corinthians 4:7). Our lives are ‘marred’ by sin. It would be very easy to give up on ourselves. God hasn’t given up on us. He looks beyond what we are now. He sees what we will become. He is preparing us for ‘eternal glory’. ‘We are being renewed day by day’. ‘We are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory’(2 Corinthians 4:16-17:3:18). ‘Jesus, You are changing me. By Your Spirit, You’re making me like You... You are the Potter and I am the clay. Help me to be willing to let You have Your way...’(Mission Praise, 389).

Jeremiah 19:1-20:6
‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stubborn and would not listen to My Word’(15). God is warning the people. He is calling them back from the way of sin and disobedience. He is calling them to return to Him. He is looking for people who will take Him seriously. He calls us to live in obedience to His Word. He calls us to worship Him with the dedication of our lives and not only the words of our lips. Sometimes, we wonder, ‘Will God’s blessing be lost forever? Is there a way of rediscovering His blessing in our lives?’. ‘There’s a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There’s a door that is open and you may go in. At Calvary’s Cross is where you begin, when you come as a sinner to Jesus’(Mission Praise. 682).

Jeremiah 20:7-18
Jeremiah is deeply depressed - ‘Cursed be the day I was born!... Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?’(14-18). He has been preaching God’s Word. He’s getting nothing but abuse in return: ‘The Word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long’(8). Does he stop preaching ? No! He keeps on going. He feels like giving up: ‘If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His Name”’. There is, however, a greater Power which drives him on - ‘His Word is in my heart like a fire’. No matter how much Jeremiah tries to keep silent, he ‘cannot’do it (9). He moves forward in triumphant faith: ‘The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior’(11). He calls on the people to worship the Lord: ‘Sing to the Lord! Give praise to the Lord!’(13).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
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