This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jeremiah 18:1-6 NIV
the sentence, ‘shaping it as seemed best to him….‘ is interesting.
This passage reminded me of a si-jie at the pottery club one day asking me what was I trying to make with the lump of clay on my hands. My answer was : ‘I don’t know… see how it shaped up, a cup, a teapot or join the messed up clay for the next task…’. This is very true for a beginner like me. I would like to throw a teapot but ended up as a simple container.
However this is not so with God. He is not inexperienced but the expert. Probably, the clay is not cooperating, struggling to be ‘something else’ and thus ended as a mess. And therefore God has to shape it as seemed best to him. Thank God that what ‘seemed best to him’ is better than what we think is ‘ the ‘best’.
