God sometimes allows suffering because we wouldn't submit. And he loves us too much to let us harden the wrong way.
Jeremiah 18:1-17
The Potter and the Clay
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. 7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9 And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, 10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would.
11 “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”
12 But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”
13 So this is what the Lord says:
“Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,
even among the pagan nations?
My virgin daughter Israel
has done something terrible!
14 Does the snow ever disappear from the mountaintops of Lebanon?
Do the cold streams flowing from those distant mountains ever run dry?
15 But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me;
they burn incense to worthless idols.
They have stumbled off the ancient highways
and walk in muddy paths.
16 Therefore, their land will become desolate,
a monument to their stupidity.
All who pass by will be astonished
and will shake their heads in amazement.
17 I will scatter my people before their enemies
as the east wind scatters dust.
And in all their trouble I will turn my back on them
and refuse to notice their distress.”
God reminded Jeremiah and the people that he could and would shape them as he liked. The note in my mom's life application bible says this:
"As the potter molded or shaped a clay pot on the potter's wheel, defects often appeared. The potter had power over the clay, to permit the defects to remain or reshape the pot. Likewise, God had power to reshape the nation to conform to his purposes. Our strategy should not be to become mindless and passive- one aspect of clay- but to be willing and receptive to God's impact on us. As we yield to God, he begins reshaping us into valuable vessels."
So out of his love for us, he destroys our pride by destroying what we cling to. The suffering sometimes is because we (either literally or with our actions) told God not to waste His breath- that we were going to do whatever we wanted despite what He said. I love the word it uses in the NLT. It says "stupid". I don't normally use that word, but it makes perfect bold sense here. We look at the people of Judah and can easily say "Look how stupid they are. God told them to repent, but they told him to not waste his breath. They declared themselves a lost cause towards God so that they could do what they wanted." We say that, then we realize all the times we have forgotten God, or not wanted to pray to him, or not felt up to reading today. And we realize how much we have forgotten his power and worth. He is our potter and He loves us. So if he has to destroy us before our hearts harden, he will do so. Judah must soon repent, or the clay will harden the wrong way. Suffering brings us back to Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment