Over the years, I’ve preached about the potter’s wheel in Jeremiah 18. When I preached the story, I stopped short of the other events in that chapter. I wanted to portray a word of hope. But there is more to the story than just a pot being reformed. It was the events that followed the Potter’s Wheel story that revealed the content of the heart of Israel. Their attitude is what got my attention.

As the story unfolded, Jeremiah described what God would do with a pot that represented the nation of Israel. “The jar spinning on the potter’s wheel did not turn out as He hoped, so He crushed into a lump of clay again and started over” (Jeremiah 18: 4). 

If the reformed pot did not change its attitude and renounce its evil, the consequence of that evil would remove the protecting hand of God over the nation. The people responded to Jeremiah’s message in a cocky and self-assured way, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own desires” (vs. 12). The Lord then responds to that foolish choice and says “They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths of sin. Therefore, their land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity” (vs. 15-16).

We are living in a moment of history where great stupidity has overtaken our nation and in some instances, within the Church. While Jeremiah’s Potter’s Wheel story applies to what was written to Israel at that time in history, the principles expressed apply to us today. If something is truly stupid, we need to call it for what it is.

The word “stupid” sounds a bit harsh to ears that have been taught our faith should never be offensive. But after all the evidence is examined, it is a very accurate word. What defines something as stupid is sourced in a rebellious attitude that comes from “stubbornly following our own desires.” Every great move of God will have in its mix acts of repentance that will soften our hearts and lead us away from making stupid choices.