The Potter's Hand
 

Jeremiah 18:1-6:  The word, which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: "Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the LORD. Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”

The prophet Isaiah, like Jeremiah, mentions this analogy whereby God is the potter and we are the clay. Isaiah 29:16 records, "...shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?" The claim of all humanity ought to be, "...O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand." (Isaiah 64:8)

The Jeremiah text discloses some important truths for us. First, none of us have been fashioned except by the Creator. We are all the creation of God; each of us fashioned by the Maker’s hand.  But the vessel which the potter labored with was "marred". Understand, the imperfection is not in the hand of the Maker, but in the vessel – us. Though we were created flawless, that perfection has been tarnished through sin (Romans 3:23 – "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”). But, as the clay in the potter’s hand was taken and reworked, so God desires to us to be "...renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created..." us (Colossians 3:10). This renewing is not a one-time event, but a day after day process, leading to the salvation of our souls.