How are things going for you these days? Are they moving along quite smoothly, no real major problems? It's nice when there seems to be a break in the stresses and strains that life is often filled with, amen? Has there ever been a time when you felt like your life was going along so well and then all of a sudden things were turned completely upside down? What is your reaction when faced with certain circumstances that you just don't understand at all? What should the child of God's reaction be? Does doubt and fear creep into your heart, anger and anxiety, or do you remain strong and submissive in spirit to the Lord? We're going to consider things that are upside down today in the light of Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1-6, so turn with me there and let's see if we can't learn a lesson or two....

"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words."

Jeremiah was commanded by God to go to the potter's house in order to learn a lesson. That lesson would be taught him from the Word of the Lord.... So it is with us ladies! There are certain places that God directs each one of us to in order that He might cause us to hear His words.... You see, our heavenly Father would have us all to possess soft, pliable hearts - hearts that are teachable and moldable, amen? The first test is our eagerness to learn. If we would obey and take ourselves to His house to hear His words - God has promised a lesson for us everytime! I wonder how many of us have skipped our personal, private lessons from the Lord due to not going to church faithfully.... I wonder how many of us are behind in our spiritual education for lack of following God's command to meet Him in His house for Divine direction! Ladies, we must understand that it is through the teaching and preaching of God's Word that the Lord gives explicit instructions to individuals. The Lord who formed us, knows for what particular services and purposes He intended us. Do you know what yours are?? Jeremiah obeyed God and this is what he beheld - this is what he learned for himself....

Vs. 3, "Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels."

Jeremiah learned in the potter's house something about wheels, perhaps you're learning the same lesson in your life.... He learned that God is the one who turns things upside down, for He is performing a perfect work in our lives just as the potter was! Will you esteem the work this way when you view it dear lady, when it's your time to be turned upside down on the wheels? Or will you begin to lose faith in the Lord and what He is doing with you?

Isaiah 29:16, "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?"

Perhaps you've cried out to the Lord a time or two, "God, what are you doing??!" Or maybe you've felt as if the Lord had no understanding of your situation at all or that His hands were not capable of fixing or altering your circumstances? Maybe inwardly you've even shaken your fist in God's face and said, "I don't like this, I don't want to be made into what YOU want - I've already decided want I want for myself!" When things are turned upside down, it certainly is a test of our faith - and our hearts, amen? We are brought face to face with whether or not we really trust in the Lord and what He is accomplishing in us and through us. We are brought face to face with our wicked hearts as we begin to strive with our Maker when we won't yield to the control and steady pressure of His hands, the One who is only trying to mold and shape us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ.... Could such a work really be so bad??

Isaiah 45:9, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?"

Ladies, when we quarrel with God and His design for our lives, we are actually accusing Him of folly! We are accusing the Lord of not doing a good work, of not being wise enough to even know what He is doing! We become stubborn and resistant to the pressure of His hands upon us and harden our hearts against Him in bitterness and anger for the way He is shaping us. The trouble is, WE want the role of the potter, we aren't interested in being the soft clay God designed us to be.... In our rebellion, we've lost the moisture that keeps our hearts pliable and moldable. It won't be long before we'll finally learn that we CAN'T do God's work, and He WON'T do ours!

Psalm 32:4, "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah."

Luke 8:6, "And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture."

I am so glad that Jesus Christ didn't react improperly when His world was turned upside down by the Father! Think about it ladies, Jesus lived in heaven with the Lord - a perfect world with no problems at all, things were going along just great! And then God turned Christ's world upside down and sent His Son to earth to die for the likes of you and I! What was Christ's reaction to His life's purpose, to the design His Father had chosen for Him.... He who was in the form of God having to be fashioned as a man and sent from above only to be rejected and crucified by sinners - the loving work of His Father's hands? Christ's reaction is what our reaction SHOULD be ladies! He put aside all His personal desire, and obediently yielded to the form God desired Him to take....

Philippians 2:7-8, "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

Ladies, whatever fashion we find ourselves being molded and shaped into by God today, you and I need to follow Christ's example and humble ourselves to that form and become obedient to the finishing of God's work in and through us, amen? His work is always a perfect work, even when we can't see the sense of it! The Lord always knows what He is doing - when we can't trace His hand, we can trust His heart, amen? Rest in the palm of those loving, capable hands, won't you?

Psalm 31:15, "My times are in thy hand...."

Isaiah 64:8, "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

I hope you've learned today that to contend with the Lord is as senseless as for clay to find fault with the potter! The creature is not competent to criticize the Creator... To sit in judgement of the Lord is to imply that you are more righteous than He! Instead, let's turn God’s promises into prayers and find rest for our souls in His Word, amen ladies? God has the power to do what He wants with us for He is sovereign over all! We must simply trust and obey. It's a lesson Jeremiah learned and one we all need to learn as well....

Vs. 4-6, "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again unto 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, O house of Israel."

Romans 9:20-21, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay...."

**Remember ladies, it's always more becoming for us to submit to God rather than to reply against Him!

God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000  Pamela A. Iannello

Back to Top