Jeremiah 18:1

 Jeremiah 18:1 says, The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,  Verse two adds, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.  God first told Jeremiah to arise and go down to the potter's house, then He would hear God's words.  Sometimes, we may need to simply go where God tells us to go without fully understanding what He has for us to do when we get there.  Had Jeremiah said he wasn't going until God told him why, then he never would have gotten God's message.  Verse three states, Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.  Jeremiah said that he went to the potter's house and saw him working at the potter's wheel.  This would have been nothing unusual, and many times the things that God uses to reveal His word to us are very ordinary.  Verse four adds, And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.  Jeremiah said that as the potter was making the vessel that it became marred and that the potter made another vessel as he chose to do.  Again, this was nothing unusual.  Verse nine declares, Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  As Jeremiah was there watching the potter, being where God had directed Him to be, then he heard God speak to Him again.  I don.t believe that this was an audible voice, though it could have been.  God normally does not speak to us in an audible voice, so it is important that we recognize His voice when He speaks to us however He chooses to do so.  Verse six states, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.  God asked if He could not do to the house of Israel as the potter had done to the clay.  God said that they were like the clay and He was like the potter, and we still are and He still is today.  The people of Israel were God's chosen people and He was molding them into a nation to serve Him, but they became marred by their disobedience.  We, as followers of Christ, are called to be shaped into the person that He calls us to be, but it is always His choice what that will be.  Verse seven declares, At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;  God said that the fate of a nation, especially those who were supposed to be His people, was in His hands.  God may allow evil to exist in the world today as He calls people to come to Him through faith in Christ, but He is the ultimate authority and those who do not come to Him individually, and I believe as a nation, will be plucked up, torn down and destroyed when God's judgment comes.  Verse eight adds, If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.  God said that even after He had pronounced His judgment against  nation that there was still hope if they repented.  God's intention has never been to punish but to save people from sin and everlasting punishment, but it is always up to each individual whether he or she will repent and accept God's salvation.  Verse nine states, And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;  Then verse ten concludes, If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.  God said that if a nation repented and turned to Him and then rebelled again, that He would repent of having spared them.  As stated numerous times, I don't believe that we can lose our salvation once we have truly accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but I do believe that all that we do in this life that is not in accordance with God's will ultimately will be destroyed.