Day 282, 9th June: Jeremiah, 1 Thessalonians and Psalms

Moulding and Shaping
By Seth Enos, Soul Survivor: Called to Lead

Todays Readings Are:
Jeremiah 18:1-20:18
Thessalonians 1:1-2:16
Psalm 119:1-8

At the beginning of our OT reading, God’s talking to Jeremiah about how He wants to shape and mould Israel. He used the example of the potter and his clay: how he shapes and moulds it as seems best to him. God wants to shape and mould us into people after His own heart, people that reflect His glory. We need to let God have His way with our lives and mould us into who He wants us to be. Yes it going to be tough and yes it’s going to hurt sometimes, but the end prize is worth it. In verse 6, it says “like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand”. When I first read that it was such a comforting thought to know that we’re in Gods hands. He’s not going to leave us, He’s not going to forsake us, He’s going to be with us the entire time as He shapes us. Interesting fact for you; if you throw a lump of clay on a potters wheel, it will eventually fly off. God doesn’t just throw us onto the wheel of change and leave us to spin, He comes with us; holding, caring and shaping us the whole time.

Now if you jump over to our NT reading, I think it’s a perfect example of what happens when we let God shape and mould our lives. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8 it talks about how the Thessalonians, despite severe suffering, became imitators of the Lord and because of that, their faith in God became known everywhere. It’s not like that happened over night though. God shaped and moulded the people into what He wanted them to be, and despite the severe suffering they went through, their faith was made known everywhere they went! How amazing would that be today!?!

Maybe you feel like God’s in the process of reshaping and molding you right now. Maybe you feel like some days it just hurts and you’re suffering. Take encouragement, rest in God, seek His face, and trust that He knows best for you. Psalm 119:2 says “blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek Him with all their heart.” Just as the potter smooths out the cracks in marred clay, so will God smooth and shape you into the incredible person He made you to be.

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Today’s picture was taken by…
Stefanie Sidler, the Bible in One Year in LA. Thanks Stefanie !

If you’d like to take your own picture to potentially be featured on the blog, then get your Soul Survivor Bible in One Year, and take a picture of yourself – and your Bible – at some interesting or colourful location. Then email it to us at editor@soulsurvivor.com.

The pictures will need to be a pretty good resolution (we use 640px by 360 px so at least as big as that), landscape photos work best and if you include the day of the reading in the picture then make sure you send it to us a good few days before that reading, so we have time to include it in that day’s post! We’ll credit all photographers!