Jeremiah 18:1-4 – Hope in Haiti: Part 4

Daily Devotional Bible Verse

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. (Jeremiah 18:1-4 ESV)

This clay is of the earth. I am not a heavenly vessel. While I may have found myself in such a brokenness that it seemed best to lay my head in the dust, sit in silence and claw the ground, He forgave, and poured into me His mercy and grace. And the best news is that I’ve been dug up from that dark pit and placed into His hands, this dirty old earth in the hands of the Great I AM! I’m HIS to form.

It’s as if God tells us, “Yes. I see the flaw. But the flaw is not you. The flaw is only a part of you. It is only a piece of this old earth, of what you’ve been made from, that lives in you. He takes that lump of clay and He throws it again onto the wheel, He pushes out and forms again something new, pulling up something beautiful… From nothing. It hurts. Oh how it hurts. It has to.

His hands are already dirty. He’s not afraid of a little more dirt. He chooses to work the clay. He is still forming me. I will spin round and round on this wheel until He decides to pick me up, and then there will be for me the kiln, the fire, the final passage into what He will call perfect. For today, all I need to know is that God is not finished with me yet.

That is a story of unconditional love, and one worth telling over and over again.

He hears our heart cry. He doesn’t require the words or the rehearsed confession. He just asks for genuine repentance, and when He sees it, His answer comes flooding in before our prayer can even leave our lips.

Draw near to God in confidence today, and remember that He’s not finished with you yet!

Dan Elliott is a missionary who sold everything, left America, and started Bibles For Haiti—an organization that does exactly what it sounds like. Learn more about Dan and Bibles For Haiti visit biblesforhaiti.org. This post is adapted from “Haiti Ever After,” the interactive online story of Bibles For Haiti. You can see more, here.