Thought this would be relevant due to my pottery coming out today and explain the reasoning behind my tattoo!
When I was in high school, I decided I wanted a tattoo. Not really sure what triggered my desire to have one. There was this day that I decided I wanted one and then told my mom I was going to get one… Her response, “I doubt it- you’re terrified of needles.”
Honestly, that pushed me to get one even more. Hahahaha. I love you mom! Pass a few days and I made a permanent and irrational decision to get Jeremiah 18:6 on my arm. It reads as followed:
“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.”
Ash, why? I was, and still am, huge into ceramics. The development of a final piece of pottery is fairly long and at times challenging.
What is Jeremiah 18 saying?
Here is a little background of just Jeremiah 18: Jeremiah is a messenger, a prophet. He has been devoted to his calling by God which is to….
“Behold, I (God) have put my words in your (Jeremiah’s) mouth,
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant. “
Jeremiah 1:10
Israel broke the Covenant with God. What was the Covenant you may ask? To worship God. But, Israel performed the worship of other gods and other evil performances. He had to discipline Israel BUT Jeremiah 12:14-15….
“Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land.”
He disciplines them but tells them He will then again have compassion on them and return to them. God doesn’t want to end with destruction. He doesn’t tell Jeremiah to stop at destroying and overthrowing. God wants to remold Israel. He wants to restore what shattered. There is a lot more to the story than just this, obviously. This is leading me to say… Jeremiah 18:1-6
“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.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
What does this have to do with anything? Why the heck would you get a verse about Israel needing to be rebuilt by God on your arm?
Because of this: When God explained what He wanted to do with Israel and compared it to clay… It got me.
The process of clay can be long and frustrating. And you see that when it says at the beginning, “the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand”. The first time the Maker tried to build the vessel, it became destroyed and He had to rework it into another vessel. No, I am not saying God messed me up when He made me. Because I know He intentionally created every single thing about me. Psalm 139:13-14
“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.”
The thing I see in this verse, is that sometimes there are hiccups when throwing clay. There may be air bubbles that pop up or maybe there is a chunk of dried clay that got into the good clay you are throwing with. Who knows. Thankfully, all the potter has to do is stop the wheel and pop the bubble or scoop out the clay. Most of the times. There are times where yes, I completely ruin a piece of clay and it is not forming how I want it to. But, usually I am able to form it into something. I am sure a perfect potter rarely throws away a wasted piece of clay. The clay is formed into a vessel, something that can be used, by the Maker. Do you get where I am going? Are we not like clay in the hands of God? Allowing Him to shape us into something that is purposeful? Being pushed, molded, and formed. Not just the idea of making the piece, but firing it as well.
Once you throw the clay (that is the term for creating pottery, not actually throwing it), you dry it out and then put it in the bisque kiln at about 2,100-2,200 degrees for stoneware. Next you glaze it (for those who don’t know pottery terms, this is when you pretty much paint it). Sometimes, you just never know how glazes come out because there are so many factors with one of them being the temperature. The red you used may end up as a deep red or an orange. At times, it is just unpredictable. Then you put it through another firing. Cone 10 glaze is fired at roughly around 2,200-2,400 degrees fahrenheit. Boom. You get your pottery.
It. Is. A. Process.
You can’t get a completely finished piece of pottery without going through the scorching kilns.
1 Peter 1:6-9
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Maybe you read this and you are still lost. I don’t know. But, in my head it makes sense and I know what it means. Got questions? Ask. Thank you for reading!
