As the clay is in the hands of the potter, so we are in the hand of God

I want to invite you to be able to have a reflection on the word of the Lord in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 18, verses 3 to 6. A loving word from the Lord, a necessary word for us to be able to understand, to be able to remember, and to be able to have conviction of who we are before the Lord.

A few weeks or a few months ago in one of my sermons right here I told you that neither the world nor the circumstances that you have lived or that you are living define who you are. God defines who you are. So it doesn't matter if you're half broke financially right now, it doesn't matter if you can't go to the best restaurants anymore and you only go to McDonald's for that dollar. That doesn't define you. It no longer matters if for some reason he lost his Lamborghini and is now doing something else. Some are no longer doing anything else, they only walk with a bus pass. Even that doesn't define who you are. God gave you an identity, God defined who you were from the beginning because he created you in a special way.

Even in Genesis in chapter 1, God defined something unique in his creation, it was you and it was me. Specific human beings with characteristics, a specific character and a specific personality. So if you think a brother doesn't like you, don't worry, as long as the Lord doesn't like you, everything is fine, everything works. Of course we have to be nice to the brothers too, we cannot say that we love God and hate the brother. And although you don't believe it, the Lord did not make anyone ugly, he did it in different models. So if you've ever been told you're ugly, don't worry you're just a different model.

Look at what Jeremiah says, chapter 18, verses 3 onwards: “…And I went down to the potter's house and behold, he was working on the wheel and the clay pot that he was making was spoiled in his hand. And he returned and made another vessel as he thought best to do it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Can I not make you like this potter, O house of Israel?" says Jehovah, “Behold, as clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

So look around you, the mud that is around you, the land that is around you, is something that the Lord gave you an identity and defined what it was going to be used for. Let's pray to the Lord, close your eyes and bow your head.

Thank you Lord for this opportunity, for the opportunity to be able to share in your house, Lord, where as we see, as we share, Lord, we receive the blessing that you have prepared for us. Lord, we declare that your word brings blessing, healing, joy, joy, holiness, Lord, to our spirit, to our life, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

It caught my attention, this is a very, very well-known word, but many times as our life progresses, as we go through different processes, we really forget why the Lord has us here. You know, it strikes me how the potter, the figure of God interacts in this story. This figure of a designer, this figure of a thinker, this figure of someone who began to think about what I can do to give a handful of earth, a handful of clay a useful life. There are a number of elements that we could detail in the profession of the potter, and it would be a little long how the clay is formed, how the potter himself is formed, how much machinery or how much equipment is needed to make the final product.

And we can take a long time on this. But perhaps the gist of it is some specific words that appear in this account. First, this image of a forming God, of a God who gives you life, who defines you in the process in which each one of us walks through life. Not all of us have the same experiences. There are some who have enriching experiences for the years they have lived. Others of us are walking in the process, we are still not complete in our definition of what the Lord has proposed for us. But there is something certain, God is forming you and designing you for something specific, for something that only him and he will define what you are going to be useful for. Nobody else.

Not even the levels of education you may have. I do not know if you are a graduate of the best universities in the United States, I do not know if your bank account is richer than the same bank where you have it, but that is not going to define what has been proposed for you.

You know, this potter wants to make it clear to us that you and I in this world, that you and I in your work, are not redundant, we are here for something. And not only to be kicked, insulted or rejected, we are here to be deposits of the glory of the Lord.

Hey, do you know what it is to be a deposit of the glory of the Lord? In the book of Second Corinthians, he says that he is going to deposit his glory in clay vessels, not so that we glorify ourselves, but so that we recognize that what we are is because of him, that everything that comes out of us is because of him. , that everything that transcends us is because of him. There is no one who can take away the category you have before the Lord.

No one can and has the right, not a political leader, not the economy, not a religious leader, not even the church can remove the category that God has given you. You are his clay vessel that he has formed with his hands. The more mud the better for us. The glass represents this definition of what we are going to do, what we are going to serve for.

Here he talks about a glass, it can be a flower pot, it can be a clay plate, and each figure determines a different function and use, but always to use it, always to be useful, always so that it is not just for decoration but also be something that can project what it was formed for. And you were formed to project what God has deposited in you, his presence, his anointing, his glory, the Holy Spirit are within you. You are a clay vessel that has been honored to have the presence of the Lord in your life.

If we could read Psalm 139 we could realize how detailed the Lord was with us. But specifically verse 15 defines this psalm for us in some way. Read this psalm in your home. He gives us a specific detail, he knows us, he had knowledge of us since before we were born, "where will I go from your spirit and where will I flee from your presence, if I ascend to heaven, you are there, and if in Sheol make my platform, behold, there you are. If I take the wings of dawn and dwell at the end of the sea, even there your hand will guide me and your right hand will hold me, verse 11, if I say certainly the darkness, you will cover me even the night will shine around me. Even the darkness does not hide from you, and the night shines like the day, the darkness is the same to you as the light.

He is saying that he knows where we are, how we are, who we are, what we want to do and even what we don't want to do. He formed us in such a way that he knows where we enter and where we do not enter. He gave us an exact measurement.

When I read all this psalm I was surprised at how the Lord paid attention to even the smallest detail of my life and where I have no space to ignore that the hand of the Lord has been forming me through these years. You don't doubt that. The restoring hand of the Lord, the one that speaks here in the book of Jeremiah, is a hand that passes through you and makes you go through all the processes until you reach the final process where you will be in a position, where you will be able to be useful in a certain place.

The potter's hand is forming us today, it is giving us those forms that each one of us needs in the place to be in the place for which we were proposed by the Lord. You and I, I repeat, we are not enough in this place, we are not enough in the world. If someone believes or was told their whole life that they were born by accident or mistake, that was not the case. If some have been rejected from their family and told, “You don't belong here anymore,” don't worry, you belong to someone greater.

This potter is worried every day about giving us the final touches that our lives need. He has the ability to make us and redo us and he doesn't make a problem for it. On the contrary, the more docile this clay is, the better. The less roughness this mud has, the better. The purer this clay is, the better, because in this way the potter will mold us in his image according to his likeness.

You the potter, I the clay. You know, in Second Corinthian 4:7 it says, "but we have this treasure in earthenware vessels so that the excellence of the power may be from God and not from us."

When someone sees a piece of clay adorning a house, one thinks about who made it, how could they have created something so beautiful. In our Latin American countries, this is a very rich material in culture, in crafts, making clay pieces. How was it designed, what was going through the mind that formed it, how did you do it, how long did it take?

Many times we only worry about the image and we don't worry about the one that formed us. Start thinking about the one who formed it. I began to ask him what you formed me for, Lord. What am I going to do now? What is your purpose for my life? What do you want me to do?

When the Apostle Paul had the encounter with the Lord, he asks two interesting questions, who are you, Lord? and what do you want me to do? Let's ask the potter then, potter, who are you? And what do you want me to do? What did you train me for?

Do not be afraid if you have not reached higher social levels, worry about reaching the levels of wisdom and spirit that the Lord has prepared for you to reach. It does not mean that you are ignorant, it means that when God is intervening in your life, even what you know is nothing compared to what he is going to do with you.

How good is the Lord. Close your eyes for a moment. I don't know what stage of training you are in as a potter, I don't know what stage I am still in. But the Lord has insisted on defining our form as he thought it and not as we want. Even Job recognized God's sovereignty to shape it and to make it anew.

There is no specific time, God is forming you in his hands. It may be hard times, times of pain, times of insecurity, times of uncertainty, times of scarcity, no matter what the weather, he is forming you. He is with his hand caressing your life every day giving it shape.

Lord, thank you for your love, thank you for your care, thank you Lord, because the human being does not define who I am, because circumstances do not define who I am, because still, Lord, religion does not define who I am, you define what you formed me for And what will I be? Thank you Lord, because in each one of us the process of the formation of the clay vase is being lived where you will deposit a precious treasure that belongs to you.

Thank you Lord, because you have given us identity, because you have given us design, because you have given us use. Lord, in your hands we are safe, in your hands we are confident in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah!

Can you look at the clay vase next to you? See what shape the clay vase has. Hallelujah! How good is the Lord. How good is the Lord. Let's recognize that he is good and his mercy is forever. We are going to stand up for a moment and we are going to see that the Lord… we are going to say goodbye with a song of joy or sadness. So today someone arrived discouraged, leave very encouraged and if someone at home is going to wait for you saying, you are worthless, today show them how much you are worth, because you are a treasure.

The word of the Lord says that a life is worth more than all the treasures in the world. So here we are rich because we are in the presence of the Lord. The Lord bless you.