More Than Second Chances: Jeremiah 18:4

Jeremiah 18:4- "But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make" (NASB).

Most of us have regrets of some kind. Maybe we regret a decision we made. Or we regret a missed opportunity. As discouraged as regrets make us feel, we can't go back in time to fix them. We may want to fix that regret, but we can't.

The Backstory of a Promise

This key scripture can heal the brokenness of regret. It describes God as a master artisan who fashions a lump of clay into a brand new vessel. But the scripture presents a problem when the clay is ruined. We don't know exactly what happened to ruin the vessel, but the context of this chapter gives us a clue. 

Jeremiah prophesied that Israel was like the clay in the potter's hand. They had chosen to worship other gods, spoiling their relationship with the one true God. God predicted their punishment (18:11), making it difficult to see a promise embedded within this verse. 

To see the promise notice that the vessel was ruined in the hand of the potter. Regrets make us feel as if we've crossed a line where grace can never reach and mercy is never an option. But the failure that spurs our regret did not happen outside of the reach of the loving hand of our Father. Despite our rebellion, God still loves us without condition and promises something brand new.  

So the potter remade the spoiled clay into another vessel. Our regret may have destroyed the work that God was doing in the first place, but somehow He reworks the spoiled clay of our lives into a new, refashioned vessel. 

At first glance, this verse presents the promise of second chances. However, the potter did not try to fix the broken vessel. He started over by making another vessel out of the spoiled clay. God gives us more than second chances. He promises to make something brand new out of our brokenness. 

There are scores of promises throughout scripture where God promises to do something new. Look at a few of them:

• 2 Corinthians 5:17- "...if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation..."
• Isaiah 42:9- "Now I declare new things; before they sprout I proclaim them to you.”
• Revelation 21:1- "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;..."
• Isaiah 43:19- "Behold, I am going to do something new,..."
• John 13:34- "I am giving you a new commandment,..."
• Hebrews 12:24- "...Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel."

God purposes to accomplish what He has always planned for you in a completely new way. There are many ways for God to do this. When an artist makes a mistake, she has many options to fix it. Most of them involve correcting the mistake so the project is not a foregone failure. Scraping the art usually represents the least preferred option. 

With God, starting over is His first option for you. He does not gloss over a mistake, failure, or sin. He requires you to deal with it through repentance. But then He accomplishes the work He had always intended for you on a level you could never imagine. Remember, the revealing of a hidden treasure from within the spoiled clay of your broken life is what pleases Him the most (18:4b). He creates a brand new masterpiece out of your brokenness that could not have been possible without the failure. Imagine that! 

Peter and the Promise of a New Beginning

I wonder if Peter could have envisioned preaching about His Savior when the cock crowed. No character in the New Testament illustrates the promise of new creations better than Peter. He denied knowing Jesus three times, leaving the disciple in tears, no doubt wanting more than anything to go back in time to fix his mistake. But God had so much more in store for him (John 21:15-17). 

If Jesus had just given Peter a second chance, he would have had to rehash the whole sordid affair. Our enemy hits the rewind button of our regrets, mistakes, and bad decisions. But God does not do that. God salvages the spoils of bad decisions, empty promises, and hurtful words to make something brand new out of our mess. With God, there is no reason to rehash our failures because Jesus already paid the price for them. God  makes us a new creation, somehow better than what we could have been without the mistake.  

If you know the story, Jesus questioned Peter three times about his love for his Savior. After Jesus predicted Peter's death, Jesus renewed His call for Peter: "Follow me" (John 21:19). 

Do you remember the first time when Jesus called Peter to follow Him? Peter found direction from His first call by the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:16-17), but now experienced redemption by that same sea. If Jesus would have replayed his three strikes, Peter would have struck out again. But God does not require us to replay our mistakes. Jesus didn't just give Peter a second chance. He made him the man he couldn't have been without the regret of denial. 

Life Application

Like the clay in the hand of the Potter, Jesus created the man we see on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). I am convinced that Peter could have never delivered such a sermon in the days of the early church without the dark nights of denial and those intimate moments of redemption. 

Somehow in the providence of God, it took questioning Peter's love for His Savior as God's creative moment to make the man who would preach Jesus at the birth of the church. God, in His mercy, did not require Peter to rehash broken promises, but simply asked him, "Do you love me?" The three times Jesus questioned His disciple represented the shaping and molding of a new man for a greater purpose.

If you profess your love for Jesus like Peter, then you position yourself in the Hands of God like a formless lump of clay in the hands of the Master Artisan. With your profession of love, you declare:

• God you are perfect and I am not. 
• God you are in control and I am not. 
• God you are sovereign and I am not.
• God, I surrender to your plans even if they mean my death (John 21:18).
• God I choose to follow you wherever You may lead and whatever You may call me to do (John 21:19).  

Are these not the implied declarations of a broken fisherman who loved Jesus more than life? You may have regrets so you hope for a second chance. But God will give you more. He will create something new out of your brokenness. But He asks you first, "Do you love me?"

Father, I pray for the redemption of those who wrestle with the guilt and shame of regrets. Lord God, you give us more than a second chance. You promise to make something brand new out of our brokenness. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Receive His redemption as you listen to "Feels Like Redemption" by Michael English:

Scriptures for further study:

Jeremiah 18:1-6

John 21:15-25