Verse of the Day for April 14

God sends Jeremiah to a potter's house rather than giving him a message directly, which is unusual. He is told to go and watch someone work.

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.

Marred in the hand of the potter. The failure happens while the clay is being held, not after it has been abandoned on a shelf.

And the response is not to discard it. He made it again — same clay, same hands, different vessel.

That last clause matters. It is not remade into what it was going to be. It becomes another vessel, as seemed good to the potter.

Which is a harder comfort than the version usually preached. You are not thrown away. You may also not end up as the thing you had planned to be.

The marring happened in his hands. Nothing about it took the potter by surprise or removed the clay from his grip.

He made it again. He did not make it the same.