Messed up in God's hands

A couple Sundays ago I was listening to a preacher's sermon on Jeremiah 18:1-5. God had sent him to the potter's house to see an illustration of the people of Israel and Himself. I've read it before and you can read it on your own as well. This time I realized something I never took notice of before - we can be messed up in God's hands.

Now this is not to say or even imply that this is God's deficiency or inability to keep us right. This is to say that even as we are on our Christian journey we go off course.  We mess up and become not as he intended. Why? Because even in His hands we want to do our own thing. We want to rebel. We want to choose our own way. At least this has been my issue many a time.

So here is the truth. Sin, our departure from Gods way and perfect design, causes deformity of the spirit. We basically need the potter to remold us and as the Pastor pointed out it is not painless. There has to be a breaking apart. The cracks and brokenness requires God to once again bring us down to just clay in order to rework us.  We need to be pliant in his hands and it will have to be done by breaking us down again. Then He has to refine us. The reshaping has to be set by fire. Ouch! Then we are placed away for the curing process. Put aside on a shelf but not forgotten by God.

I don't know what you are experiencing right this minute but I still want to encourage you. God doesn't throw you out when you are messed up. God doesn't say that's it garbage for you. He doesn't leave us in the mess but by His own hands he remolds, reshapes, restores and repurposes. So don't call yourself out. Don't try to get off His potters wheel. Stay put and go through. Being messed up in God's hands is the best place to be. He takes your mess and reshapes it for the message.