We live in a world where we desire to be in control of everything. We think we know what is best for us and plow ahead and do as we please, sometimes no matter who it hurts. Where did we get this mentality? When did we decide we knew better than God?

Jeremiah was told in Jeremiah 18 to go to the potter’s house. When he gets there the potter is using clay on the potter’s wheel. The vessel is marred and so he starts over and reshapes another vessel (18:1-6). The idea behind all of this is that God is the potter and we are the clay. God molds and shapes our lives if we will let Him. Being the Creator He has complete control over His creation.

Are there ever times when we decide that we know best? Are there times that we do not submit to the potter? Can that which is made tell the maker what to do? No! And yet we do it at times. We think we know what we need more than God does and therefore we do things our own, many times, selfish way.

The Israelites during the period of the Judges thought this way also. Every man did what was “right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). As they did, God allowed them to be overtaken by the surrounding nations. They were oppressed and all of their material possessions were taken from them. Eventually they would cry out for God to deliver them and He would raise up a leader that would deliver them from the cruelty they suffered. And when the leader died, they went right back to doing as they pleased. Thus, they repeated this cycle over and over.

Today God is still that potter who has the authority over our lives. Instead of rebelling against God we need to surrender to His authority. When we do God can use us for great things. God can take a life that is marred by sin and make a new vessel from it, if we allowed Him to work in our lives. Are you resisting God today or surrendering to His rule? God will make a useful vessel of your life if you will allow Him to do so. Will you?