A Fresh Start at the Potter's House

At the beginning of each year, people often think about the previous year and make a decision to let the past be the past. They want to move forward with new goals, new dreams, and new aspirations.  I have seen many claiming they want a fresh start and many believe that God is going to do a new thing with their lives. 

As I pondered upon the new year, God led me to the parable of The Potter’s House in Jeremiah 18:1-10.   As I began to study this parable, I was reminded of a time when I was a little girl, probably in elementary school.  My mom would often take me to this place where she would teach a ceramics class, which is what we called pottery back in the 1970s in the deep South of Mississippi.  I remember sitting on a stool playing with the wet clay as it would slip and slide through my fingers and hands.  I also remember a  wheel that was controlled by a foot pedal that my mother would use to speed up or slow down the wheel.  The clay was placed on top of the wheel and my mother would start to form with her fingers and hands a vase or a bowl out of this clay and from time to time,  as the wheel was turning, I remember her splashing water on her hands and the clay because the clay would start to dry out and it was hard to work with.

In this post, I'll explore details about the potter, the clay, the wheel, and the water in Jeremiah 18:1-10.

The Potter represents Almighty God

• Even though He has granted us the freedom to make moral decisions, He remains Sovereign and in control, doing as He wishes with the clay, His creation, you and I.

• In other words, God has absolute power over the clay. 

• The Potter's power is expressed by the pressure of his hands as he molds the clay.

• Almighty God, the Potter, possesses the power to either leave the flawed areas in the clay or to reshape and remold it; restoring it into a masterpiece pleasing to Him and aligned with His purpose. Consider:

  • Psalm 135:6 - Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

  • Daniel 4:35 - all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

  • Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

• We also see in this parable, that the Potter is patient, and extends grace and mercy upon the clay. He does not abandon the clay or throws it away. He puts the the clay afresh upon the wheel and starts over again. Consider

  • Hebrews 13:5 - God will never leave you or forsake you

  • Lamentations 2:23-24 - It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

The Clay, represented Israel in this passage, and represents us today.

• Clay is soft and pliable or shapeable when wet, but hardens when dry.

• It’s internal cohesion makes it tough and gives it the ability to hold its shape.

• The clay can be moldable

  • This is clay that is willing to simply lay in the hands of the Potter, without complaining, without murmuring, and most importantly, without resisting how the Potter wants to reshape and remold it

  • This is the clay that is in total submission to the Potter.

• The clay can also be stiff and brittle, and bone dry.  

  • This was clay that was at one time soft and pliable. 

  • Perhaps this is the clay that first accepted Christ for salvation and willingly put their lives in the Potter’s hands.

  • But then over time, their spiritual life dried up.  T

  • This is the clay that may even go to church to hear the Word of God, but the Word no longer has an effect on their lives anymore. 

  • They have closed themselves off to spiritual truths and their spiritual growth has been stunted. 

• The clay can also lack moisture

  • Clay that lacks moisture is clay that still exists but can not be used. The clay is just soft enough to exist, but not soft enough to be moldable for the potters use.  

  • Unfortunately, this is the place many believers are at today.

  • They have just enough of a relationship with God to know they are saved and forgiven. They do just enough to make sure they will be saved when that time comes.

  • They live life for themselves, and they aren’t bad people, but they refuse to allow the potter to mold them. The time when they get committed is when their world starts to fall apart.

• In this parable, we find that the clay was spoiled or marred. 

  • The truth of the matter is we are all pieces of marred clay. The Bible tells us that God created man from the dust of the earth, in His Image. 

  • Although God breathed His life into us, because of our choices of disobedience, we are all marred by sin and have gone astray.

  • Consider Isaiah 53:6 - All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

  • If we knowingly and willing continue to sin, not having a repentant heart, sin will disfigure us to a point we no longer represent the image of God.  We no longer represent the plan or purpose that the Almighty God has for our lives.  We become stiff, bone dry, and unusable by God.

The Water and the Wheel represent life.

• The represent the unexpected, unanticipated, unpredictable challenges and circumstances of life we sometimes face.

• Just like the a wheel, our life situations can revolve repeatedly, frequently spiraling out of control and leading to confusion and frustration.

• We sometimes want to give up.  Our hearts become hardened and our spirits become dry.  

• But we must remember that the Potter is in control of the speed of the wheel.  He knows when to let off that foot pedal to slow things down.  

• The Potter also knows when to add a little water of challenge on our wheels of life”to soften us, making us moldable again. 

So if you desire a fresh start in 2025, take a visit to the Potter’s House.

1. Recognize  and Remember the Sovereignty of God.

2. Isaiah 64:8 - But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

3. Confess that you have marred Almighty God’s work and humbly ask that He should make you over again. 

4. I John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3.  Trust God and Surrender All to Him.

• Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.