Grasp the Gospel — Bible Comprehension Quizzes

Jeremiah 18 Devotional

Clay Still on the Wheel

““O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”Jeremiah 18:6 (BSB)

At the potter's house, Jeremiah watches a vessel go wrong in the potter's hands. The potter does not throw the clay away. He shapes it into something new, as he chooses (18:3-4). Then God speaks: his people are in his hands the way clay is in the potter's (18:6). Yet in the same breath he says that if a nation he has warned turns from its evil, he will relent of the disaster he planned (18:7-8). God's sovereignty is not a closed door. It is the very reason his call to turn is real (18:11).

Judah replies that there is no use; they will follow their own plans (18:12). When enemies plot against Jeremiah, he asks God to deal with them in anger, and the text records that prayer honestly (18:18-23). Paul uses the potter's right over the clay to speak of God's freedom over what he makes (Romans 9:21). The potter in this chapter reshapes rather than discards. Your flaws do not put you beyond his skill.

To think about: What flaw in your life have you assumed is beyond repair, and how does the potter reshaping the spoiled vessel speak to it?

About Jeremiah 18: The Potter and the Clay

At a potter's house Jeremiah watches a spoiled pot reshaped, and the LORD teaches that Israel is in His hands like clay and that His warnings and promises to nations depend on how they respond. Judah refuses to repent, enemies plot against Jeremiah, and he prays for God to judge them.

Take the Jeremiah 18 quiz →Study notes

Get the next chapter and its devotional in your inbox each morning

One short email a day, no account needed. Stop anytime.