The scriptures use the pottery image several times

The scriptures use the pottery image several times. The prophet Isaiah uses it a couple of times. In Isaiah 45: 9: “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’?

Verse 12 "We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will. " The people who insisted on following their own plans came up against the plan of God and the two don’t jive. They’re not willing to change.

Our Lives There a few other things I see in this text. God continues to work on the House of Israel. This is not the end of the story with the people of Israel. God continues to seek them and want to be in relationship with them. I know there are some of you right now who have family members and friends who are going their own way. They are not following God’s way right now

From God’s Hands It is not you who shape God; it is God that shapes you. If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the Artist who does all things in due season. Offer the Potter your heart, soft and tractable, and keep the form in which the Artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of the Potter’s fingers.

• . GOD’S PEOPLE ARE AS CLAY IN THE MASTER’S HANDS A. Self-determination is one of the things our society prides itself on. The ability to decide our own faith, choose our own path, is a source of great personal satisfaction. • The self-made man has been, and remains, the rage of big business and high society. But, that is all illusionary. In the real scheme of things, we are only as valuable as we allow God to make us.

The talents and abilities we possess are not of our own volition. We are not successful because we determined it. We are nothing more than moulded clay and the shape we take on is determined by the Master’s hand. B. The Lord says to Jeremiah, and through him the nation of Israel, "Can I not do with you as this potter? Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. " There is nothing God’s people cannot be so long as they are being shaped by God’s hands.

• That mentality is so tragic and so unwarranted. It destroys a life that could be of great service to God and mankind, and eliminates any chance of reconciliation and eternal salvation, which is above all most important. • The potter did not throw the ruined piece into the corner of the shop, or into the trash. He continued working with it and reshaped it into another vessel which he deemed good to make. In other words, he began again, from scratch with the same clay and gave it a shape that was good and would hold it’s form.

REJECTION We know that rejection really hurts, but they can also inflict damage to our psychological well-being that goes well beyond mere emotional pain. Here are 10 lesser known facts that describe the various effects rejection has on our emotions, thinking, and behavior. Let’s begin by examining why rejection hurts as much as it does:

• Rejection piggybacks on physical pain pathways in the brain. “f. MRI studies show that the same areas of the brain become activated when we experience rejection as when we experience physical pain. ” • Tylenol reduces the emotional pain rejection elicits “Tylenol reported significantly less emotional pain than subjects who took a sugar pill. Psychologists assume that the reason for the strong link between rejection and physical pain is that…”

• We can relive and re-experience social pain more vividly than we can physical pain. “ In other words, that memory alone won’t elicit physical pain. But try reliving a painful rejection (actually, don’t—just take my word for it), and you will be flooded with many of the same feelings you had at the time (and your brain will respond much as it did at the time, too). ” • Rejection destabilizes our "Need to Belong. “ “We all have a fundamental need to belong to a group. When we get rejected, this need becomes destabilized and the disconnection we feel adds to our emotional pain. ”

The *Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. There would have been many brave men among them. But they were not suitable for God’s purposes. G Notice similar reactions in other people. God called Gideon (Judges 6: 12 -16). He called Jeremiah too. (Read Jeremiah 1: 6 -8. ) • Rejection creates surges of anger and aggression In 2001, the Surgeon General of the U. S. issued a report stating that rejection was a greater risk for adolescent violence than drugs, poverty, or gang membership • Rejections send us on a mission to seek and destroy our self-esteem. “We often respond to romantic rejections by finding fault in ourselves, bemoaning all our inadequacies, kicking ourselves when we’re already down, and smacking our selfesteem into a pulp. ”

The *Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. There would have been many brave men among them. But they were not suitable for God’s purposes. G Notice similar reactions in other people. God called Gideon (Judges 6: 12 -16). He called Jeremiah too. (Read Jeremiah 1: 6 -8. ) • Rejection temporarily lowers our IQ. “ Being asked to recall a recent rejection experience and relive the experience was enough to cause people to score significantly lower on subsequent IQ tests, tests of shortterm memory, and tests of decision making” • Rejection does not respond to reason. “Participants were put through an experiment in which they were rejected by strangers. The experiment was rigged— the "strangers" were confederates of the researchers. Surprisingly, though, even being told that the "strangers" who had "rejected" them did not actually reject them did little to ease the emotional pain participants felt”

The *Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. There would have been many brave men among them. But they were not suitable for God’s purposes. G Notice similar reactions in other people. God called Gideon (Judges 6: 12 -16). He called Jeremiah too. (Read Jeremiah 1: 6 -8. ) • There are ways to treat the wounds rejection inflicts. “soothe our emotional pain, reduce our anger and aggression, protect our self-esteem, and stabilize our need to belong”

The *Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. There would have been many brave men among them. But they were not suitable for God’s purposes. G Notice similar reactions in other people. God called Gideon (Judges 6: 12 -16). He called Jeremiah too. (Read Jeremiah 1: 6 -8. ) YOU SAY GOD SAYS You say: 'It's impossible' God says: All things are possible ( Luke 18: 27) You say: 'I'm too tired' God says: I will give you rest ( Matthew 11: 28 -30) You say: 'Nobody really loves me' God says: I love you( John 3: 1 6 & John 3: 34 ) You say: 'I can't go on' God says: My grace is sufficient(II Corinthians 12: 9 & Psalm 91: 15) You say: 'I can't do it' God says: I will direct your steps(Proverbs 3: 5 - 6) You say: 'I'm not able' God says: You can do all things( Philippians 4: 13)

The *Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. There would have been many brave men among them. But they were not suitable for God’s purposes. G Notice similar reactions in other people. God called Gideon (Judges 6: 12 -16). He called Jeremiah too. (Read Jeremiah 1: 6 -8. ) You say: 'I can't manage' God says: I will supply all your needs( Philippians 4: 19) You say: 'I'm afraid' God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear( II Timothy 1: 7) You say: 'I'm always worried and frustrated' God says: Cast all your cares on ME(I Peter 5: 7) You say: 'I'm not smart enough' God says: I give you wisdom(I Corinthians 1: 30) You say: 'I feel alone' God says: I will never leave you or forsake you(Hebrews 13: 5) You say: 'It's not worth it' God says: It will be worth it Rom 8: 28 You say: 'I can't forgive myself' God says: I Forgive you(I John 1: 9 & Romans 8: 1)