Scripture
‘This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. ‘ Jeremiah 18:1-5
Observation
In Jeremiah’s day, the temple was the place to go if you wanted to find God. God had a message for Jeremiah, but He did not send Jeremiah to the temple to hear the voice of God–instead, God sent him to the potter’s house–the shop where one would go in order to buy kitchen utensils…Macy’s, in today’s world. Jeremiah’s ears were tuned to hear the voice of God, even though he was not at the house of God…and so the voice of God is what he heard. Where the onlookers next to him saw only a busy workman, Jeremiah saw divine inspiration. Where those nearby saw only the hands of a craftsman, Jeremiah saw the hands of the Master Craftsman
Application
2020 is continuing to be a strange season. A friendly hug is now considered rude and inconsiderate, bank tellers require you to wear a mask over your face or else they will call security, and churches are being pressured to keep crowds to a minimum size, in the name of public safety.
In all of the commotion, I find it harder and harder to maintain any routine or predictability in my week. This includes my sources of spiritual nourishment. I find myself less consistent with previous habits and routines, like our SOAP journaling group or weekly worship gatherings. At the same time though, I have begun to notice that God’s voice is still speaking when I take the time to listen. I have begun to notice the voice of God in conversations with friends, or in chance encounters at the beach, or in the checkout line at Home Depot.
Like Jeremiah, I need to keep my ears attuned to the voice of God in my daily life. Not as a compensation for a lack of discipline in my walk, but in recognition that God’s ability to speak, is limited only by my willingness to listen. The same God who stepped outside of the grandeur of the temple to meet with Jeremiah at Macy’s is the same God that now resides in me, to walk with me through the turmoil and uncertainty of life in the year 2020.
Prayer
God, thank You for this reminder that You are not constrained by a building, or by business hours, or by the length of a livestream, or by limits imposed by the governor of Hawaii. Thank you that you are actively at work in the day-to-day mess and non-photogenic reality of my daily life. Help me to keep my ear attuned to Your voice, so that I would not miss what You are trying to teach me.
Amen.