God says to Jeremiah, “I will let you hear my words.” What a gift. He will let Jeremiah hear Him. But, it’s conditional. Jeremiah has to obey. The Lord sends him to the potter’s house. Jeremiah didn’t know why he was going to the potter’s house. It didn’t matter. The Lord doesn’t have to explain His ways to us, and certainly isn’t in the habit of doing so before we make the choice to obey. He wants us to act in faith and obedience. We just do it without the understanding. The understanding often comes, but after, not before. Trust and obey. That’s how we live our lives with God.

We live surrendered. We live surrendered into the Potter’s hands. We allow Him to knead, pull apart, smash, and rebuild and reshape into His chosen vessel, a vessel of honor prepared for the Master’s use.

God chooses the hardship only so that His people will turn to Him, will cry out for saving, so He can come and save them. He wants to be our Savior. He will help us get there.

But, in Jeremiah 18, the people still refuse. They won’t listen to the one who knows God’s word. They won’t turn back from other gods, even though turning to them was the start of all the trouble. They blame God and Jeremiah, not themselves.

They refuse to believe God’s word has been or will be taken from them. They refuse to believe that their counselors are not wise. They refuse to believe that the prophets telling them only good things are not true.

People pick and choose what they want to hear, what they want to believe.

The Lord had me write a book against the Word of Faith doctrine. It was something people wanted to hear and have clung to. It gave them self-empowerment. People like feeling powerful.

It’s not surrender, though. It’s the opposite.

Surrender. Give yourself over to the Lord’s skilled hands. He’s a master craftsman.