Be honest… Right now, how safe and secure do you feel? People around us, near and far, at every rank and station are silently falling to the ground like autumn leaves. The Bible teaches that guilt, fear, and failure in a persons life can cause worry, anxiety, depression and panic attacks – which in-turn can lead to suicide. Friends, this does not need to happen to any person! This was the state of my life before I came to know the Lord at the age of 26.

Mankind’s state of vulnerability is not the result of God’s poor design and workmanship, but resulted when our ancestors, Adam and Eve, wilfully chose to remove their lives out of the caring ‘hands of God’ and took matters of life into their own hands. Does this sound familiar to you?

Jeremiah 18:1-6 records… The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said,“Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So, I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel.But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.” 

There, in the potter’s house, Jeremiah saw the same three things we would see in a potter’s workshop today… the Potter (Isaiah 64:8), the Wheel (Romans 8:28), and the Clay (Isaiah 64:8; Job 10:9).

This word picture helps us to see four things that are of critical life importance: First – Each of us is naturally faulty (v 4, Romans 3:23); Second – God desires to refine us for His perfect use (v 4, Acts 9:15, Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:29); Third – Although we are faulty, in God we have hope (v 4); Fourth – God works in us in order to perfect us (v 4, Jeremiah 18:11, 12; 25:11).

Friends, we have to stop listening to our deceptive hearts and minds. In truth, we are faulty beings, and we need urgent correction! The acceptance of this truth is the key to our submission to God, the Transformer of our lives.

Faults in my life held me back. Faults in your life hold you back. Let’s stop this nonsense right now! Through God’s shaping influence (Scripture and His Spirit) we can become the very vessels He intended us to be – vessels of love, peace and satisfaction. Where do you presently stand? In peril, or in His safe hands?

Best wishes

Bill Joukhadar