01/03/2024
DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONAL
đBishop Dr. John Oche Egah
đ01/03/2024
đTopic: The potter breaks the clay pot (Pt 6)
đText: Jeremiah 19:1
Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
Jeremiah 19:10
Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
Sometimes we just donât get it. Sometimes the lesson just doesnât make its way past our thick skulls and into the gray matter of our brains.
In having to repeat a lesson, good teachers will adapt their methods in an attempt to find another way to connect with our minds. Repeating the information verbatim would just be a waste of time; we need a new approach to get the facts to sink in.
In reading the book of Jeremiah, we see that the disciplinary training of Judah and Israel has been an exercise in repetition. The Lord has continued to come back to them over and over again, warning and rebuking and pleading with them to repent and come back to Him. And yet, they still will not repent of their idolatry, abandon the gods of other nations, and turn back to God.
The lesson just isnât sinking in.
In teaching the lessons of discipline, God brings Jeremiah and the nation to the pottery studio, God had promised His people blessing, but without turning away from their sin, He will bring judgment upon them.
The visual imagery should help make the point, but it doesnât(v.12).
This time God has another pottery studio lesson for them, Jeremiah is commanded to buy a clay jar and go out with the elders of the people to a specific valley.
There Jeremiah smashes the jar in front of them and tells them that God will smash the nation in the same way, in the same place, âfor they have become obstinate, not obeying [His] wordsâ (Jeremiah 19:15).
God will break down and build up in the long game of pursuing the hearts of humanity.
These parables in the pottery studio are lessons for our hearts as well, asking us this question: What will God have to do in order to get through to us?
What kind of sign or wonder will it take for us to listen and obey Godâs word?
The Son of God became flesh and blood to call us to Himself once again. He pursued us to the point of His own death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Jesusâs body was broken and shattered like that clay pot, all because of His great love for us. The signs are there, and the lessons are clear.
Are we willing to see and pay attention to them, to believe and obey Jesus? The Father has gone to great lengths to call us home. May we not miss His message.
Bishop Dr. J.O. Egah
~Presiding Bishop
Hope And Power Mega Churcg
Worldwide
