Jeremiah 18
by David Groendyk

The object lesson in the first part of our chapter today (vv. 1–11) illustrates one of the hardest teachings in Scripture: that God is the potter, we are the clay, and he has the right to do with us whatever seems good to him (v. 4). He is utterly sovereign over all things. For Israel and Judah, what seemed good to God was to give them over to their enemies for judgment and destruction. For any believer, God may send trials, chastisements, and disciplines for the sake of teaching us to turn to God (v. 11). When evil befalls us, as difficult as it is to hear, it is neither helpful nor true to say that God is not in control of it. Whether it’s a messy divorce, chronic pain, a miscarriage, or betrayal by a close friend, the Lord is using that to form and fashion you in his likeness. Remember that humans actually are created from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). That should remind us of the infinite gap between God the Creator and us the creatures. Paul even takes this potter and clay metaphor and applies it to our eternal destinies. In Romans 9, Paul deals with the question, “How is it fair that God saves some but not others?” (Rom. 9:14). His answer is strikingly similar to Jeremiah 18: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Rom. 9:20–21). Everything that God does is right and good because he is God. It is God’s prerogative to do as he pleases, whether it’s the minutiae of our day-to-day lives or our eternal destinies. We must bend our knees to him in all things and find comfort in the fact that, when we do, he is on our side forever.

Given what we know of Israel and Judah and their sinfulness, their reaction to Jeremiah’s message is unsurprising. They refuse to return to the Lord (v. 12). I may have shared this quote before, but it seems especially relevant now given the potter analogy: “The same sun that melts wax hardens clay.” The warning of judgment softens some so that they seek safety in the Lord. Others hear the message and become even more obstinate and stubborn than they were before. Israel and Judah are hardening as the sun of God’s Word shines on them. They couldn’t possibly believe that their priests, prophets, and wise men were wrong (v. 18). So they ignore the man that warns them of judgment and repay his preaching with evil. Many who are in the church and part of the people of God refuse to think they can ever be wrong, and when God’s spokesman speaks the direct word of God to them, they refuse to listen. They would rather plot and scheme to discredit God’s preacher than accept what God is plainly telling them and consider changing their ways. We must have hearts of wax not clay. We must always be willing to leave our old, stubborn ways behind when God’s Word tells us to, especially when it’s a matter of sin and the honor of Christ is on the line. Never think that God’s Word is irrelevant or naive or unrealistic for our modern age. When the sovereign God of the universe speaks, listen. In what ways might you be hardening under the sun of God’s Word and refusing to listen to him? How can you learn to cultivate a heart of wax?