In Jeremiah, chapter 18, versus 3 through 6, the Prophet says; “So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him.  Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand.’”

I love the Old Testament!  While most of what you read in the Old Testament may not directly apply to us today, I believe that you can find many practical, life applications in those great books of the Bible.  The passage above is obviously talking about the national of Israel, however, what makes up a nation?  Individual people make up a nation so it is not s stretch to reason that this passage was speaking of individual people as well as an entire nation and we too are like clay in the hand of the potter when we are in our Heavenly Father’s care.

J. Wilbur Chapman had this to say about the potter and the clay; “The clay is not attractive in itself, but when the hands of the potter touch it, and the thought of the potter is brought to bear upon it, and the plan of the potter is worked out in it and through it, then there is a real transformation.”  Isn’t that the case with us Christians as individuals?  When we allow Christ to touch our life and His Will and His Plan are worked out in us and through us, then there is real transformation!  But, how can we really know that God will do this?

Well, that is a simple answer to that question!  God is faithful and He has proven it many, many times.  A few pages over from Jeremiah, chapter 18, the Prophet writes a beautiful passage in Lamentations 3:22-27.  That passage says; “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself; ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.  It is good for a man to bear the yoke while He is young.”

These verses are an amazing declaration of God’s faithfulness!  The reminder is that we need to sit and wait patiently for the Lord to work in our life.  However, we must also be looking to grow in God and to move closer to Him.  Also, as verse 23 says, God’s faithfulness is great!  As Jeremiah continues to write in chapter 3 of Lamentations, he reveals many more great truths about the God we serve.  Things like, He never forgets those that follow Him and He loves us!  He also sees all and is control of everything that is happening all around us.  Finally, He does correct and discipline us when we sin and we must remember that it is a sign of God’s Love for us when He does so.

So, we can rest assured that God is faithful!  We are simply clay in God’s Hands and He is shaping us to be just the way He wants us to be.  We may look in the mirror and see a lot of brokenness but we must remember that God is faithful and He is working His plan in our lives.  If you have been a Christian for any length at all there is a simple way to remind yourself that God is faithful.  He was faithful yesterday!  I believe that all of us can look back in our lives and see the faithfulness of God and how He worked in the various circumstances of our lives.  I can see in my own life how He blessed the things I have done for Him and I can even see how He used some of the things I should not have done for His Glory.  Yes, God is faithful … always!

I love a sentence that I read in the Jeremiah Study Bible.  Dr. David Jeremiah writes; “When you do not understand what is going on, and things are not going as you like, you can have courage in the time of trouble – if you understand that God is faithful!”  To that, I simply say, amen!

**All scripture verses are quoted from the NIV