Morning Devotional

September  23, 2005
"The Potter's Shop" (Part 6)     
    by Don Emmitte

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"Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster against you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.'" (Jeremiah 18:11 NLT).

As a follow up to yesterday’s devotional, God’s sometimes allows His plans to change during the course of our life, but His end goal for our life will be accomplished. Remember, I also said that the key was to place yourself in God’s hands. The key is in submission to his hands, just as the clay is ultimately “submissive” to the hands of the potter.

At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestras perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose “loud” as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical. Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music. ¹

Throughout the course of our life God is in control. When God told the Israelites that He was planning disaster against them, that wasn’t His ultimate end plan for His people, but rather something God was allowing so that He could work towards His end goal. If you are in a difficult situation right now, God has allowed it. Sin in your life may have welcomed God’s discipline, trying to get you back on the right course for your life. Your situation may simply be as a result of living in a fallen world. You may have done nothing wrong, but God may be strengthening your faith through the trial, but whatever the reason God allowed it, God is going to sovereignly work everything for good in your life through the trial. God is going to use this time for His glory and to accomplish His end goal for your life.

The best you and I can do when going through the difficult times is to cling closer and stronger to God during the hard times. In the end, God is going to win, and those who cling to Him will also prove victorious.

1.       Today in the Word, June 22, 1992