Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:
so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.
Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand.... Jeremiah 18:2-5
"First of all, we should establish who the potter is in this passage. Rather than giving Jeremiah a vision, God instructed him to observe an actual potter at work.
However, we learn in verse 6 that this potter served as an illustration of God as the potter of humanity—something that is both symbolic and quite literal. For in Genesis 2:7, we read that “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” making Him a potter in a literal sense.
It should be pointed out here that while the potter Jeremiah was observing was doing something physical, the work of the Potter referred to as “LORD” is doing a work that is spiritual.
The spiritual “clay” really has to do with the fact that God has created all of us with a free will. The idea of free will actually makes a lot of sense from the perspective of God as our Potter (Creator) because if God had created us without it, we would be no more than puppets pleasing God not because we want to but because we would, in effect, be forced to do His will.
But Scripture says that “God loveth a cheerful giver” as opposed to one who gives “grudgingly, or of necessity” (see 2 Corinthians 9:7; emphasis added)."
LighthouseTrails
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:
so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.
Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand.... Jeremiah 18:2-5
"First of all, we should establish who the potter is in this passage. Rather than giving Jeremiah a vision, God instructed him to observe an actual potter at work.
However, we learn in verse 6 that this potter served as an illustration of God as the potter of humanity—something that is both symbolic and quite literal. For in Genesis 2:7, we read that “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground” making Him a potter in a literal sense.
It should be pointed out here that while the potter Jeremiah was observing was doing something physical, the work of the Potter referred to as “LORD” is doing a work that is spiritual.
The spiritual “clay” really has to do with the fact that God has created all of us with a free will. The idea of free will actually makes a lot of sense from the perspective of God as our Potter (Creator) because if God had created us without it, we would be no more than puppets pleasing God not because we want to but because we would, in effect, be forced to do His will.
But Scripture says that “God loveth a cheerful giver” as opposed to one who gives “grudgingly, or of necessity” (see 2 Corinthians 9:7; emphasis added)."
LighthouseTrails