Jeremiah 18-19   Jeremiah is sent to the potter's house twice.  The first time, he witnesses the potter taking a flawed piece on his wheel and remaking it into a new jar.   The Lord gives Jeremiah a visual picture of himself and his nation - "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."  The Lord is the Maker.  It is His decision to form a nation, or a person.. or to reform one, as He choses.   It is His choice to forgive those who will repent and turn back to Him.
It is also His decision to render judgement upon those who will not keep His ways.

"For My people have forgotten Me... they have stumbled"  Israel and Judah both had left the way of righteousness.  They had chosen another path and it was leading to disaster.  Indeed,  "All we like sheep have gone astray.. each of us has turned to his own way. " Isaiah 53:6a

In chapter 19, Jeremiah is sent to the potter's house again.  This time he is told to buy a jar and take it with him to the Hinnon valley.  He is to invite along the elders and priests.  Jeremiah is told to break the jar and proclaim the Lord's word, " Just so shall I break this people and this city, even as one breaks the potter's vessel, which cannot be repaired; and they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial." 

Topheth is the place of fire in the valley of Hinnon, south of the gates of Jerusalem.  It is where an altar to Baal was erected.  It is there that people, and even kings, offered their children to be burned alive as sacrifices.  They " filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind..."  An act that even horrified God!

We read about the death camps in Germany during WWII, where thousands were marched into gas chambers and killed by the command of evil men... and we are horrified.  In Jeremiah's day, fathers and mothers took their own children and willingly gave them to be burned up in the fires of baal.  And in our own day, we know that millions of unborn babies have been torn out of their mother's wombs... willingly sacrificed to the god of convenience and self-centeredness.  Which is the worst atrocity?

They defiled the house of God.
They stiffened their necks against the Lord's Word.
They forgot His ways.
They chose their own paths.
Our world does likewise.  And yet the Lord continues to call out, "Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds." 

The neglect of God's Word will lead to forsaking His House and His ways. 
When we choose our own path instead of His.. we also will stumble and fall. 

Our Maker is willing to remake us.. to re-form our lives - to shape us into the image of Jesus, His Beloved Son. He calls us to turn back to Him. To seek Him first and His kingdom and His righteousness.  He desires only one sacrifice from us now...  " present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God.. "  It is a sacrifice of love to the One who has shown us His "unsearchable judgements" and His "unfathomable" ways.  The greatness of His mercy and the depth of His eternal love for us is still available to those who will receive it. Are we willing?

Father, O Glorious in Majesty and Mighty in Power,  You alone are God.  You made the earth by Your power  and established it with Your wisdom.  By Your understanding You stretched out the heavens. From You and through You and to You are "all things".  To You be glory forever. May today be the day when those who are still lost- be found... May they hear Your voice calling for them to return to You.. May they have ears to hear and heed Your Word. Bring salvation and life to those we lift before You now.
Father, I also want to once again present my body to You.. a living sacrifice.  I am Yours.  I desire to walk in Your Spirit today, and to honor You in all I do.  I pray this in the Name of the Beloved Son, my Savior, Jesus.
Amen