The Potter and the Clay

Jeremiah watched a potter reworking a marred vessel on his wheel and heard God ask, 'cannot I do with you as this potter?' - a vivid picture of God's sovereign right to shape, break, and reshape his people according to his purposes, much as clay has no standing to argue with the one forming it. Isaiah and Paul both extend the image, insisting it is absurd for the clay to say to the potter, 'what makest thou?' The symbol calls for humble submission to God's sovereign purposes, trusting that the potter who shapes his people, even through breaking and reforming, does so with wisdom and purpose beyond what the clay itself can see.