OUR SOVEREIGN LORD OF INDIVIDUALS AND NAITONS
OUR SOVEREIGN LORD OF INDIVIDUALS AND NATIONS
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. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. —Jeremiah 18:1-10
For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’ —Jeremiah 21:10
The vessel the potter was making was “spoiled” and he decided to start over and rework the clay into another vessel. That was his choice. That was within his power and that is what he did. So also is it with the Creator of all things. It is within His power to do what He desires with individuals or nations. As the potter works and moves the clay with his hands so our Lord works with and moves individuals and nations with His hands. As the clay is subjected to the hands of the potter so individuals and nations are subject to our Lord. They may not think that this is the case, but it is.
If an individual, nation or people group is going to be brought into disaster by the Lord, if they repent He may relent. This was the case with the City of Nineveh as mentioned in the Book of Jonah. The message God sent Jonah to the people of that city with was “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” (Jonah 3:4). Yes, God was going to bring judgment on that city. But what happened? We are told that “the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish” (Jonah 3:5-9). What was the result of their repentance? “When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them” (Jonah 3:10). God cared “about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well” (Jonah 4:11).
Yes, our Lord is in control of all individual and nations. He will do what He desires to do with them just as a potter decides what to do with the clay in his hands. Let us take comfort in knowing our Lord is sovereign over all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x8TZiwPGa0
Dear Father I am so grateful to know that none of what is happening is out of Your hands, but that You are working through all things to further Your plans and purposes. May I be faithful in the race You have marked out of me in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son. May it be so!