The Sovereign and Responsive Potter

Jeremiah 18 is one of the best-known parables in the prophets. God told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house, where he would hear God's words. When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel. The potter was in full control, yet he was patient and purposeful with flawed clay.

God applied the picture with a question. House of Israel, can't I do with you as this potter? God has authority over nations. Yet verses 7 to 10 show that his dealings respond to how people answer him. If a nation turns from its evil, God will relent of the disaster he planned. If a nation does evil after God promised good, he will reconsider the good. God's sovereignty and human response are held together.

The people's reply was hopeless and stubborn. It is in vain; for we will walk after our own plans. God marveled that even nature is steady, yet his people forgot him and walked in byways instead of ancient paths. Opponents then plotted to strike Jeremiah with the tongue. In his distress, Jeremiah reminded God that he had stood before him to speak good for them, and he asked God to deal with his enemies. In the New Testament, Paul uses the potter and clay picture when speaking of God's purposes (Romans 9:21).