Dirtbags?

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Jeremiah 18:1-10 NIV

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 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 seemed best to him.  Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord . “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

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unknown metal item found in Derbyshire near Stanage Edge.

unknown metal item found in Derbyshire near Stanage Edge.

The first book of the Bible, Genesis,  tells us God made man. It says God took a bit of the dirt and made man. Sounds a bit like a potter making a bit of pottery. So Jeremiah's illustration is more reality than analogy.

God as our creator has all the creative copyrights reserved.

And can not God match us to our purpose and his need. Who are we to talk back to our maker?

Before the final firing potter’s clay is able to be reworked, and completely repurposed. So isn't God saying that he's still not finished with us.

Here are some thoughts about the implications of God as our maker.

• God has complete say over our purpose.
• God has the right to judge our performance in light of his purpose for us.
• God has no obligation to the one he created.
• There is no higher law, rule, say or purpose than God's.
• God is not working for someone, he had made us for himself.
• No other thing made by God is in a position to judge God's purposes for something he made for himself.
• Usefulness, beauty, functionality, durability are some of the possible values that God may have for his creation but ultimately it is for God alone to determine.
• Works in progress before the firing can be remade.
• God is Sovereign.

God is the first and final word over his own creation. 

We are God's creation. 

Therefore God is the first and final word over us.

Our role is to do what we were made for.

Do you know what you were made for?
Do you know why God has made you?
Does he look at you and see a product he'd be happy to fire in the kiln?
Are you going around in circles? Spinning around?
Let God mold you to his will. Recognise his superior position.

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Isaiah 29:16 NIV

You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?

Isaiah 45:9 NIV

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?

Isaiah 64:8 NIV

Yet you, Lord , are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Romans 9:21 NIV

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

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He never grows weak or weary.

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Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
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Isn't a good nap a wonderful luxury? Isn't it wonderful to sleep peacefully and to rest your weary body and wake refreshed? I often find myself at the end of my energy. Even this morning in reading the Bible and writing this blog I've felt exhausted, and that was after a restful weekend. But I know where to turn to be refreshed!

God in heaven is never weary. God in heaven never grows tired or needs a rest because he is weak. He never wears out.

Don't you just love to learn a new morsel of truth? Aren't you thrilled to gain a bit of understanding? Have you ever had one of those eureka moments when you've discovered something you didn't know before and it all fits together so much better now that you understand?

God already knows everything. Nothing can be added to his knowledge. No new truth will enlighten God. God cannot be taught something he does not already know.

God is the creator of all that is, all that has ever been, and all there will ever be! Goodness, love, wisdom, understanding, light and life all find their source in God. He lacks nothing and nothing is without him.

God does not need you to inform him of anything. God knows the deepest secrets of your heart.

God's immense vastness is infinite and unfathomable.

You are no match for God. God is eternal. God is outside of the confines of time and space. God is not hampered by a lack of time. 

Oh small person in a vast universe, you need God's strength. And rejoice, for God has promised his limitless strength will lift you up. When you grow weary, God will give you help. 

Don't trust in your own strength. Teach yourself to humble yourself before God who knows all. He can enlighten you. You will not find the ability to carry on in yourself. You will fail in your own strength. You will run out of resources. But those who rest in God will never run out of resources.

Give up what little you have to gain what cannot be measured!

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Isaiah 40:12-31 NLT

Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice? No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand. All the wood in Lebanon’s forests and all Lebanon’s animals would not be enough to make a burnt offering worthy of our God. The nations of the world are worth nothing to him. In his eyes they count for less than nothing— mere emptiness and froth. To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down! 

Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God— the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff. “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One. Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

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