Jeremiah the prophet was instructed by God (Jer. 18 ESV) to go to the potter’s house. The vessel that the potter was making became spoiled, so he started over and made something else out of  the clay. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potters’s hand, so are you in my hand , O house of Israel.” Jer. 18:6)

Of course, God is talking to Israel in this passage but there are principles that we can draw from this passage that apply to us. The sovereignty of God is one. What does sovereignty of God mean? That he is in charge. This is such a difficult principle for us as American Christians to grasp. Our American Christianity has embraced non-biblical principles and added them to our Christianity. This is called syncretism. One such principle was proclaimed by a high-profile Christian on national TV recently. She said “God wants me to be happy.” What does that mean? I have heard people use that as an excuse to divorce his or her spouse. So this person uses a non-biblical principle to override a biblical principle about divorce. Stupid. I’m sorry folks I have a nasty form of cancer and I don’t have time to tickle your ears. This is not true Christianity.

Try telling Paul and Silas that God wants them to be happy as they are being beaten (Acts16). Tell that to John Hus as he is burned at the stake for preaching the gospel. Tell that to Christians in the colosseum as they become the main course for a bunch of hungry lions. The Apostle John’s Revelation shows the price that is paid for following the true and living God. It could cost your life.

God is in charge. Does that mean that He wants you to be unhappy and that everything about being a Christian is painful and bad? Absolutely not!!! God wants to bless us but serving Him is not about the blessings. Many times He does bless us but we don’t realize it and we aren’t thankful. Living for God helps us to make lemon aid out of lemons. It helps us to live life to the fullest in spite of the difficulties we encounter in life. I have an abundant life whether I am in the hospital or out. It is because I have a relationship with the King of King and Lord of Lords, not because He has given me some superficial blessing.

God is in charge. He is sovereign. He wants to make something out of your life but what you can become will only happen as you give Him control of your life. There is so much more that I could say but I will stop. Let God be in charge.  Pastor Bob