Jeremiah 18:1-23

God is in control.  This is one of the most basic and important truths for us to keep in mind as we face the realities of this life.  The reason it is so important for us to remember this truth is because His control is not always very evident in the circumstances of life we must often face.  God rarely controls things in the way we expect Him to but that does not mean He has lost control.  It simply means HE is God and WE are not.  He sees things and knows things about which we are completely ignorant.  We simply must learn to trust Him, be assured of His control and then tell Him about our confusions and desires.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE NATIONS: God uses an illustration of a potter to show communicate this truth to Jeremiah.  Just like a potter can make whatever he wants with the clay in his hands; God can do whatever He wants with the nations of the world.  When a potter in displeased with the way the pot is shaping on the wheel he will squish the clay down and start over.  When God is displeased with the direction a nation is going He is very likely to bring them to their demise.  The potter may be on the verge of giving up on the shape of his pot when all of the sudden and the turn of the wheel and the angle of his hand a pleasing form begins to emerge.  God may be about to discipline a nation as in the days of Jonah and then the nation repents so God’s wrath relents.  These responses are all within God’s prerogative because He is in control and is sovereign over the nations.

MEN ARE STUBBORN IN THEIR SIN: Despite God’s obvious control, men remain very stubborn in their sin.  Men like to pretend they are the ones in control.  Israel has become and idolatrous nation and God is preparing to squash that clay in His hands and start all over.  God has warned them time and time again but they are determined continue in their sinful rebellion.  Instead of hearing the message of warning and amending their ways they prefer to listen to false promise of hope and affirmation and then begin to threaten Jeremiah who is telling them the truth.  Sinful people will hear what they want to hear and will become angry when they hear what they don’t want to hear.  We are simply stubborn in own self-righteousness.  We do what is right in our own eyes and despise any who would dare to correct us.  When we are living in sin it is much easier for us to get mad at the messenger than it is for us to obey the message.

JEREMIAH IS SCARED FOR HIS LIFE: Jeremiah has the distinct “privilege” of being the voice of God to the people.  Proclaiming the Word of God truly is one of our greatest honors in life but it is also a hazardous line of work.  When Jesus sent out His disciples He let them know He was send them out as sheep among wolves.  It is important for preachers to remember: wolves eat sheep.  Jeremiah has seen the pit the people were preparing to throw him in and it was deep.  Jeremiah does the only thing he can do: go to God and plead for mercy.  There was a day when Jeremiah was pleading for God to have mercy on the nation but now that the nation has turned on Him like it had already turned on God; Jeremiah changed his tune.  His prayers are beginning to sound just like God’s promises of judgment.  He calls on God to make the women barren, the men be eaten by plagues and the youth to be killed in war.  When we dare to proclaim the Word of God we should do so in fear and trembling; fear of God and trembling before our audience who, if we are proclaiming rightly, will be digging a pit to throw us in.