The things we think are solid
Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:
What did I like about today’s passage?
It’s amazing how shocking or painful it can be when something solid gets broken. I still remember breaking my leg years ago, and it will be even longer before our city (and the world) will forget the day Colston’s statue came down. Many are still upset about how this happened and what it means – have we tried to erase history? Or have we added significantly to our story by reshaping some of our landscape, even something solid?
And if people can make a statement by taking down statues, how much more can God make a statement by smashing something solid?
It’s not that people never thought a clay jar could break. Those things can easily crash and crumble into heaps of splinters and tears, as so many kids and parents can testify. The surprising thing is that we see so much of ourselves and our world as unbreakable when God knows that we can be as fragile as clay.
I love that Jeremiah’s picture is not just about things breaking, though. The shocking picture of “disaster… that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle” is preceded by a different story, given to Jeremiah privately, about clay and its flexibility.
God shows Jeremiah that he can work Israel “like clay in the hands of the potter.” This clay is soft, it can be shaped and reshaped, and the form it takes is the one which seems best to its maker. God used this to show Jeremiah that solid looking things could change, including his mind, the will of the maker. So a soft-hearted nation, one whose people could repent and desire change, could have its destiny reshaped by God.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God promises to deal with evil, and that has consequences for everyone opposed to him. But he is able, perhaps surprisingly so, to reshape and recreate where we are willing to be defined by his hands. It may help us to remember that we are all in his hands whether we believe and trust God or not. Perhaps God wants us to know that we are fragile and not as solid in our own strength as we think, but that we will always be products of his work.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
Remember how temporary many of the solid looking things in my life have been, from things I thought I would always do for work, to the big chunk of ceiling which fell down in our house last week! However, I want the work and relationships formed through God’s love, grown by him in me, to define me forever. There is still some growing to do.
Who am I going to share this with?
This is a bit of a deep one, so I’ll have to think and pray more about it. Ultimately, I’m wanting to acknowledge better that I want my life to be a product of what God does in me, so it makes sense to listen to what he says about sharing this!