MERRY MONDAY BY PARRIS BAILEY
Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. Jer.18;3
Have you ever noticed that the Bible loves to paint pictures? When our eyes are open to God it’s amazing how much we see Him in our everyday life. Jeremiah saw his beloved city like the clay on the potters wheel. He saw some vessels discarded and thrown away and others molded into a beautiful piece. He saw the care that the potter was taking to reshape the vessels. So many of us downplay the work that God has done in our lives or we have let other things take its place (the cares of the world). The grace of God working in our lives never ends and it is miraculous!
Spurgeon says it so well about the potter and his vessel- ” Now as we all know, a vessel is nothing but a receiver. A vessel is not a fountain—it is not a creator of the water—but a container and holder of that which is poured into it. Such are the redeemed of God. They are not fountains by nature, out of whom there springs up anything that is good. They are simply receivers, and receivers only! At one time they are full of themselves, but God’s Grace empties them—and then as empty vessels they are set in the way of God’s goodness, God fills them to the brim with His loving kindness, and so are they proved to be the vessels of His mercy. You may receive from Him who gives all; He asks you not to do anything but to hold out your empty hand and take all you need. He does not ask you to come with your mouth full as one that is fat and filled with bread—but to open wide your empty mouth, and He will fill it with His salvation. He does not bid you store your granaries and become rich—He bids you simply confess your poverty, and open the doors of your empty chambers, that He may pour you out a blessing such as you shall scarcely find room to receive! They may, as vessels, afterwards give out to others, but they can only give out what God has put in them. They may work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, but they cannot work it out unless God works in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure! They may run over with gratitude, but it is only because God has filled them with Grace—they may stream forth with holiness, it is only because the Lord keeps the supply overflowing. Have you come to live as a receiver at the hands of God? Have you stood at Mercy’s gate as a ragged beggar crying for His bread?”
Allow yourself to remain on that potter’s wheel taking from His fullness, drinking from His well, receiving from His storehouse! He has enough for all!