Have you ever watched someone throw a pot on a potter’s wheel? There are several things that we can learn about God and His work in us. In verse two of chapter eighteen God has a message for Jeremiah waiting for him at the potter’s house.
“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ESV
The first thing I noticed is God tells Jeremiah to arise, get up, get your move on … To hear from God requires action. We can’t be pew potatoes and expect God to speak to us when we haven’t taken an active role to get to know Him through what He says in the Bible. We have to pick it up off the shelf and read it. Don’t know where to start? The are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs, one for each day of the month. Proverbs tells us how to deal with each other.
Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem, a city on the top of a hill. There are a couple of things we learn from God telling him to “go down to the potter’s house.” We need to get away from the business that surrounds us. The noise and strife of everyday life can keep us from being quiet and still so we can hear Him.
God didn’t tell him to go to the Temple and He will talk to him there. Instead, God sent Jeremiah away from the Temple to a place he wouldn’t have other religious leaders giving him their input. Not to say that getting advice from others is wrong but there are times it can block what God is saying.
Hearing God’s message is easy. Jeremiah was told to go down to the potter’s house. My block is on a slope. I live on the high end. So when I go for a walk around the block going down to the corner is a lot easier than walking up to the next corner. For it is when I start the uphill hike that the heart starts getting stress and no longer at a relaxed pace. We make hearing from God seem hard as if we had to stand on your right foot with your left hand over your head while reciting the Lord’s Prayer backward. When God has given us the Holy Spirit to come along our side and help us to hear Him.
Take time to get away from the things that keep you busy, grab your Bible, ask the Spirit to help you hear what God wants you to here. It doesn’t have to be a whole chapter. It can be just one verse like this post is focused on.
(Photo by ritesh singh on Unsplash)
Bonnie Sue Writes 