Can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lᴏʀᴅ. Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand. Jeremiah 18:6 Let’s observe a potter at work: First, he takes a lump of clay and kneads it to make it pliable. Then, he places it on the potter’s wheel and shapes it. As he presses one hand into the interior, giving it the desired volume, he holds it with the other from the outside, smoothing, refining and shaping the clay. It takes much skill and experience to form a useful vessel out of a shapeless mass. God is the potter who has shaped humans (the clay) according to His intention and wisdom. The patriarch Job expresses it to God: “Your hands have made me and fashioned me ... Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay” (Job 10:8–9). But sin has corrupted everything. The vessel has became unusable for God; it is “marred” and no longer serves its purpose (Jeremiah 18:4). The problem doesn’t lie with God – He is a perfect potter! – but with us. What now? The clay is still in the hand of God. When sinners repent by acknowledging God’s judgment of “uselessness” over their lives, He starts anew with us: He will make from the same lump of clay a vessel for His honour. Everyone who has turned to God and has believed in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has eternal life. A treasure has, so to speak, been placed into the vessel, making it valuable to God now. Yet the potter’s work is not finished. When believers feel pressure because of grief, illness or other difficulties weighing them down, it is God’s hand shaping their character: this is in order that we might please Him. Today’s reading: Joshua 19:1-51 · 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 https://gbv-online.org/calendar/262/date/2026-08-19