What the Master Can Do with the Mud!

Charles E. Jefferson in his treatment specifically on the potter's house and generally on Jeremiah: 18 and 19 said, "Jeremiah did not get his flash of insight while he was praying or fasting but rather through watching. He was not watching a religious activity, a miracle or something extraordinary but rather through watching a potter perform a task that the potter does hundreds of times a day. God revealed his message through the majesty of watching what the master did with the mud!

We began our series on "The Me I want to Be" preaching out of Jeremiah 18:1-6. The Potter's House is one of the most well known "field trips" in the Bible. I remember an encounter traveling through Arkansas when I had the occasion to visit a Pottery factory known as Dryden Potteries. It was a magnificent campus full of a showroom with exquisite and expensive mugs, planters and serving dishes. Further you see the work being done; nothing into something, and finally they show you the back of the property. MUD. A big pile of mud. Nothing impressive, nothing noteworthy, nothing expensive, just mud. However, everything that was in the expensive showroom came from the mud.

This is the message God gave Jeremiah. Go to the potter's House and watch. Watch the potter work a work on the wheel and realize the same thing the potter does with the clay, I can do with the house of Israel. I can turn you into the me I want you to be. In order for God to begin the work in us, many us need to realize, at best we are nothing but mud. I realize that the text talks about clay but after looking, inspecting and watching, clay is a nice way of saying mud.

We do all we can to sugarcoat our shortcomings but if we just tell the truth, we are nothing but mud but the good news is God uses Mud. I still drink, can God use me? Yes, that's nothing but mud, ask Noah! I still have a temper and curse, can God use me? Yes, that's nothing but mud, go talk to Moses and Peter. I have a woman issue, like them way too much, can God use me? Yes. just mud, talk to David and Solomon. The reality is we all are mud but God uses mud. He works on us, removing the imperfection, breaking down the clay/mud until it becomes what the master wants.

The wheel that spins around and around would make you go crazy except for two reasons. One as long as the clay is in the center of the wheel, no matter how fast it spins it will not spin off because it is perfectly placed. The clay can't be on the edge of the wheel because the slightest turn would throw it off. Life's circumstances would throw us for a loop, losing a job, no income, too much out go, it would throw us but when you are in the center of God's will, what kills other people will just help you to live.

Secondly, as long as the potter's hands are on the clay while the wheel is spinning, nothing can harm you, which is why you can't let every one's hands on you. To become the me that God wants you to be, there can only be one project manager. Some of us have too many hands on us. We have become our spouse's vessel instead of God's; we have been shaped into the deacon's pastor instead of what God wanted for us. We are living parent's dreams instead of fulfilling the vision God gave for us. There can only be one designer. Watch who puts their hands on you.

Two things got my attention when I looked at this text, what the potter did not do and what he did do. When it was revealed the vessel that was being made had a defect, it was marred or spoiled the potter did not do what the world does. We Discard, Dispose and Destroy. We throw it away. Car has a defect, get another one, wife has a blemish, get a younger one, church has a defect, find a new one, pastor has a flaw, run him down and get another.

We throw it away but God does not. The moment he sees the imperfection he reworks the vessel as it pleases him to do so. God does not throw us away and I am so grateful he didn't throw me away. This is what the potter did not do but what he did was after he decided not to Dispose, Discard or Destroy, the potter chose to Develop, Design and Display.

I used to be in the mud patch in the back of the store. I was an eyesore and an embarrassment but the master started working on me. When I was too dry to be used, he gave me moisture, when I was too wet to be shaped, he allowed the Sun to dry me, not dry me out but he made me usable. The master moved me from the mud patch to the wheel and worked on me. Shaping! Developing! Designing! I am God's Creation. I am a Masterpiece.

Thank God, The master works with the mud and he is still working on me and one day I will be in the showroom with God's other creations.

Owens