Jeremiah

Jeremiah 18: The LORD is the Potter

Begin in prayer

Before we watch the potter at work, let us bow before the LORD in prayer. Ask Him to shape our hearts, to bless our family, and to show us Christ, who makes sinners new.

For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

Psalms 103:14

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that You are the Potter who shapes Your people, and help us to yield to You and trust Jesus. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The LORD sends Jeremiah down to the potter’s house, where the potter works clay on the wheel (verses 1 to 4). A spoiled vessel is shaped again, and the LORD says Israel is in His hand like clay (verses 4 to 6). The LORD relents from harm to a nation that turns from evil (verses 7 and 8). He turns from the good He promised to a nation that does evil (verses 9 and 10). The LORD calls Judah to turn from its evil way, but the people answer that they will follow their own plans (verses 11 and 12). Judah’s leaders plot against Jeremiah, and he prays that the LORD will hear him (verses 18 to 23).

As you read Jeremiah 18, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD is the Potter who shapes His people, and He judges those who refuse Him.

A potter could press a spoiled vessel back into clay and shape it again (verses 3 and 4). The LORD compares Israel to clay in the potter’s hand, which shows that His people belong to Him (verse 6). When a nation turns from evil, the LORD relents from the harm He planned for it (verses 7 and 8). When a nation does evil, He turns from the good He had promised to do for it (verses 9 and 10). The LORD calls Judah to turn from its evil way, but the people will follow their own hearts (verses 11 and 12). Judah’s leaders plotted against Jeremiah, and he prayed that the LORD would hear him (verses 18 to 23). Jesus was plotted against by His enemies, and He went willingly to the cross for His people.

How does Jeremiah 18 show us that the LORD is the Potter who shapes His people, and judges those who refuse Him?

God shapes His people as a potter shapes clay.

The potter worked the clay on the wheel, and when the vessel was spoiled, he made it again (verses 3 and 4). The LORD says, “as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand” (verse 6). Jesus makes new what sin has spoiled.

The LORD judges those who refuse to yield.

If a nation does evil, the LORD turns from the good He planned for it (verses 7 to 10). Judah answered that it would walk after its own plans (verse 12). The LORD told every man of Judah to return from his evil way and amend his doings (verse 11).

Those who refuse God turn against His servant.

Judah’s leaders said, “Come, and let us strike him with the tongue” (verse 18). Jeremiah prayed that the LORD would hear him and judge his enemies (verses 19 to 23). Jesus was plotted against and killed, yet God raised Him, and He gives mercy to those who turn to Him.

Memorize

As the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel

Jeremiah 18:6

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, whose plans do I follow, and have I asked Jesus to make me new?

Jeremiah watched a potter reshape a spoiled vessel on the wheel. The LORD used that picture to say, “as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.” Judah had turned from Him and planned evil against His servant. No vessel can save itself by its own plans.

Jesus is the One who came to make sinners new, though they were ruined by sin. He was rejected by those who plotted against Him, and He went willingly to the cross for His people. He bore the judgment they deserved and stood in their place. His death paid for sin, and His work is enough for every believer. He rose from the grave on the third day.

Come to the Potter, and ask Him to make you new. Turn from your own plans and trust Jesus, who makes new what sin has ruined. Everyone who turns to Him is forgiven, and He will not cast away the one who comes.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God shapes His people as a potter shapes clay. Parents, you may want to explain verses 19 to 23 gently, in your own words, since they speak of plots and harm. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He is the Potter who shapes us, and bring the heart question to Him. Each child may say one short prayer if they wish.

I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

Psalms 139:14

Lord, You are the Potter, and we are the clay in Your hands. Forgive our stubborn plans and our refusal to yield. Please make us new in Jesus, and bring each of us to trust Him. Shape our hearts for Your glory this week. Amen.