Jeremiah 18:1-11 (New Living Translation) as the CONTEXT for reading Psalm 139
1 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 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. 5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “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. 7 If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, 8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. 9 And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, 10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would. 11 “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster for you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’”
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©2014 Cindy Serio
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Jeremiah uses a familiar image to help his hearers go deeper in their understanding of God. Pottery gives his message a contemporary common connection for those who listened to the message he spoke. In the time of Jeremiah, pottery was used for many different things such as building material, cooking utensils, dishes, jewelry, writing material and many other things. At the time, you could use pottery for just about anything, and they did. This means that the potter’s shop was probably a common place to watch the work being done ... they saw the potter start his work start over and over and over again. The Potter works the clay, destroys his creation, and re-creates again and again. Jeremiah says God does the same with humanity. God works us from the inside out and the outside in, God “destroys” us (this is a common theology, one that we haven’t quite worked out yet), and God re-creates ... the cycle of creation begins again … and again … and again … over and over and over.
Consider verse 10a from the New Revised Standard Version, “but if it (the nation/community) does evil in my sight, (by) not listening to my voice …” we find a good definition of what is meant by “evil” in this passage. When we use this definition, it speaks more deeply to us for we are all guilty of listening to our own voices instead of the voice of God at some time or another … perhaps on a regular basis. In the context of Judah, the community, which had been following the Book of the Law under the rule of good King Josiah, has stopped following God, whose voice is heard in the sacred Torah. They were following their own voices instead.
Look at verse 8. This verse alludes to the fact that if we renounce our evil ways … if we begin to seek God and listen to God, God will not destroy us as we deserve. All of us have times like this. Sometimes, we allow ourselves to drift away from God. Sometimes we get up, turn our backs and walk away.
So let us consider the way to approach God in times such as this? Perhaps the psalmist can help us as we consider Psalm 139 as a way to pray when we turn away from our evil ways (not listening to God) and return to God by listening deeply to Scripture, to our Godly friends, to our circumstances, and to the still small voice of the Spirit within. This sense of “return” is very close to the New Testament concept of repentance, the Greek word metanoia (metanoeo) which means literally, “to change one’s mind.”
We’ve all been there. Perhaps we are there right now. Perhaps we are there every day. Consider for a moment your desire to grow closer to God … open your heart and just listen as you reaffirm you commitment to God by …
GOING DEEPER through the reading of
Psalm 139 (New Revised Standard Version) To the leader. Of David.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night’,
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139 is considered to be an individual psalm of thanksgiving. It is sung by someone (the psalm is attributed to David, the man after God’s own heart) who knows God intimately. The Hebrew word yada` {yaw-dah'} is used seven times by the psalmist. Yada' is a rich word in biblical Hebrew, covering a whole range of meanings - from simple recognition to intimate sexual relationship. On which end of the spectrum are you? Do you know God in a mostly intellectual way? Or do you know God in a deeply intimate way? Are you satisfied with the way you know God? With the way God knows you? Why or why not?
PONDERING Life in the Connections between Jeremiah 18 and Psalm 139
The psalm responds to Jeremiah by pointing out that God knows each and every one of us completely. God know us, inside and out. Because of this intimacy, God can both judge us on the one hand when we refuse to listen and follow, but can also change that judgment when we repent and reaffirm our commitment to listen and walk with God every step.
As you read the Jeremiah passage and the psalm, where you do you find yourself? Are you far away from God or are you close to God? How does that make you feel? Can you sense God calling you into deeper relationship? What changes do you need to make in your life so that you can listen to God’s voice and truly hear what is being said to you?
PRAYING: If you have access to some type of clay or play dough, I invite you to spend some time working it through with your hands. As you work with the pliable material, consider how God is working with you right now. How is your relationship with God? Is it time to “return” once again? Create something with your material and call it “good.” When you have finished, read Psalm 139 again with the passion of someone who is desperate to draw close to God. Allow all of your emotions to rise up and envelop you. If you find the desire to make a confession to God, do it and allow God to forgive you. If there is anything you sense God calling you to do, do it! If there is anything you sense God calling you to be, be it! As you allow the wonder of your own creation to wash over you, remember that God loves you every time you see your own creation. Let that knowledge give you strength and lead you closer to the person God created you to be.
Go to youtube for a great video of a potter working with clay set to the tune of Change my Heart O God. Do you know the words? Change my Heart O God, Make it ever true. Change my Heart O God, May I be like You. You are the Potter I am the clay. Mold me and make me. This is what I pray …
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