Today’s passage: Jeremiah 18:1-23
Helpful thoughts:
- Clay does not form itself. God is the Potter, we are clay.
- When offered repentance and repair in the Potter’s hands, the people chose to follow the plans of their own stubborn and evil hearts.
- They saw submission to God as a hopeless endeavor. They refused to entrust themselves to someone else, even God.
- The people chose to persecute Jeremiah, not because they thought he was misrepresenting God, but because they no longer desired to hear from God.
- Jeremiah’s prayer is certainly sad, something we would not be praying for our neighbors in hardly any circumstance. However, due to God’s previous declaration, Jeremiah’s prayer was not outside of God’s revealed will.
Questions to consider:
- The people of Judah felt better and more secure when they believed they were in control of their own lives. Why is this a terrible and tragic view of life? Why are we so far less reliable than God in overseeing our own lives? Can a human being ever truly be in control?
- When Judah called God’s plan hopeless, what were they calling God? What would the condition of their hearts have to be to call themselves stubborn and evil and still choose to reject God and attack His prophet?
- How should the heart of a Christian progressively look in contrast to what we saw in this passage today? How would that change of heart affect our daily lives and interactions with God and other people?