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Jeremiah 18:1-12 is a living picture of God’s power to save and shape all of mankind. God directs Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house and watch him work. The potter is there, shaping clay on his wheel. The formless lump of clay comes alive in the potter’s hands. Mud and water take shape to become a vessel that is useful for daily life. But as Jeremiah watches, the potter notices that there is something wrong. The clay is not cooperating and the vessel becomes spoiled, useless. The potter gathers the clay into a lump again and starts over. This is God’s plan for Judah. Judah has become a spoiled vessel, and God is stepping in to reshape her. We sing a song after every baptism. “Have Thine Own Way, Lord.” It is a song that points us to this picture. The picture of a Savior who takes us into His hands and molds us and shapes us. A Creator who can transform our lives, our thoughts, and our attitudes. A Potter who makes us useful. As we surrender ourselves to God, He heals our hurts, brings comfort, and gives purpose and direction to our lives. Embed on your heart this week the fact that God holds us in His hands. He is working in us to bring life and godliness.

Judah has rejected God. Lies, idol worship, treachery, and deceit have become the norm for God’s people, and God’s heart grieves for their sin. Destruction is coming. The hurt needs healing, the brokenness needs mending, and the rebellion needs restoration, so God is moving in a mighty way to bring Judah to repentance. The coming destruction will take the people out of the Promised Land. It will bring a separation from the temple and reframe their national identity. It is a personal blow to Jeremiah. Jeremiah will now take on the identity of a weeping prophet. A man with a message that hurts his heart and causes him to grieve over the condition of his people. There is a message here for us today. Jeremiah’s suffering reveals a man who trusted God with his innermost thoughts and feelings. Jeremiah’s trust in God and commitment to do God’s will show us a man who is planted firmly in God’s purpose. We walk in a world that is full of suffering. We see things on the news, read things in magazines and newspapers, and hear stories that cause our hearts to grieve over the sin in our society. Jeremiah teaches us to trust God. To pray fervently and call for repentance. To share Jesus with people who need healing.

Jeremiah prophesied to the nation of Judah beginning with the reign of King Josiah in 627 BC until sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. In Jeremiah 1, we see God calling for Jeremiah to take a message to the people of Judah. The message will be a hard one, but God starts off with a message for Jeremiah that will help carry him through the difficult times. God comes to Jeremiah and tells him that God has been intimately involved with Jeremiah since the moment of conception. God formed Jeremiah in the womb. God knows Jeremiah inside and out. God is calling for Jeremiah’s surrender. Jeremiah questions God at this point. He knows he is a weak man and that the burden he will carry is hard. God promises that Jeremiah will never walk alone. God will go with him. It is a promise that we can experience today. In a world that seems bent on denying the sovereignty of God, we are called to live lives that point to Him. In our surrender, we walk with God in each moment. He gives us an opportunity to see Him every day. In our worship and prayer, we meet with God. The gift of family and the church are reminders of the community we share with God. The world we walk in, the newborn baby, the laughter, and love we experience are meant to show us God in the moment. He continues to walk with His people.

Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, had repented when Jonah walked its streets. A century later, this same city would again be the subject of a prophet’s teaching. This time it is Nahum, and the city will not fare as well as it did before. Nahum’s message is a warning about coming destruction. The people of Judah would have welcomed the news that the foreign power now ruling to their immediate north was about to fall. But the message was intended to have far greater impact than simply removing an enemy. Judah was supposed to see the sovereignty of God. The God who calls for repentance can also bring judgment. Whether at home or in a foreign city, God is sovereign. His eyes see and His arm reaches to all parts of the earth. Judah should take courage that God is powerful enough to rule. The same is true for us today. We see God at work in our lives all the time. We need to stop and respect the fact that God is sovereign. He watches over us, calls to us, and offers transformation. He has the power to change lives and heal the broken. He offers Himself to us in a relationship that saves and protects. He is our “stronghold in a day of trouble.” (Nahum 1:7)

In Micah 1:1, 3:1, and 6:1, the prophet calls the people to hear. He first calls the people to hear as a group. Micah wants them to listen to the warning that God gives His people. Assyria stands on the borders of the Northern Kingdom. Israel will fall during the time of Micah. The people desperately need to repent and follow God. It is a call that rings through the nation as a whole. In 3:1, Micah calls the leaders to hear. To hear how their lives have influence on the lives of others. To hear how their leadership can change the course of a nation. In 6:1, Micah tells the people to hear the word of the Lord. To listen while God is speaking. His steadfast love is waiting to be poured out. Forgiveness and mercy are still at hand. Embedding the Bible is a call to hear. To hear how God has set a standard for our day-to-day lives. To hear how God guides us to have an impact on the world around us. To hear how God is speaking in His word. God calls us to hear. Embedding helps us to listen.

In Amos 7:7-9, Amos talks about God setting a plumb line in the midst of Israel. A plumb line shows how straight a thing is. How true to plan. Israel has fallen short and Amos is charged with calling the nation to repentance. His call is a call to transformation. It is God’s call of love to His people. While the language is harsh, the message is clear. God loves His people and wants them to walk with Him. Amos is a living messenger, sent to show God’s love to Israel. Amos’ message still rings with clarity in our world today. How we treat people says a lot about how we live in relationship with God. Just as God forgives us, holds us accountable for our actions, shows us love and mercy, and is persistent in His pursuit of a relationship with us, we ought to treat those around us in the same way. We should look at the world around us through the eyes of God. People live in sinful situations. They need to be called to account. But there is a place for repentance and forgiveness. In the same way that God calls us to repent, He provides forgiveness, grace, and mercy. While we are called to see the sin in the world, we call the world from sin and into the presence of God, going beyond pronouncing judgment to actively encouraging people to follow Jesus.

The prophet Hosea is a man on a mission. Called by God to marry a “promiscuous woman”, he lives every day in a relationship that can only be sustained by God’s great love. It is God’s love for Hosea that gives him the strength to love Gomer. It is love that holds both Hosea and Gomer accountable to God’s plan for marriage and family. It is God’s love that comforts Hosea’s aching heart. It is God’s love which calls Gomer to repentance. Hosea learns to love in a situation that we find hard to imagine. But this love is a glimpse of God’s love for all mankind. Hosea prophesied in a time when the culture served foreign gods, mocked marriage and faithfulness, gave themselves over to swearing, murder, lying, and theft. In this culture, the Lord called for Hosea to speak of God’s love for man. In Hosea 13:4, God calls for His people to remember. “But I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.” God has faithfully loved His people through history. God freed His people from bondage in Egypt, and His love continues to flow. He is the only savior. His love still calls us to a relationship with Him.

Jonah is amazing to me. He is part of some of the most dramatic events in the entire Bible. God calls Jonah to take a message to Nineveh. When Jonah was ready to run, when Jonah was ready to quit, God sent a storm and a big fish to show Jonah how transformation works. On the heels of a near death experience, Jonah gets new life and a new attitude. He gets to follow God into Nineveh and witness how God dramatically changes lives. Repentance flows from the king on the throne to the cattle in the field. An entire city surrenders to God. Jonah watches as God’s hands shape the hearts of these Assyrian people, and then Jonah pouts. He sits down. He quits. From what we know, Jonah finished in a terrible place. Unrepentant, unhappy, and unwilling to see the power of God at work in the world. I don’t ever want to miss what God is doing. Jonah is a good reminder to keep my eyes open. God is moving.

The Book of Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. The message of Obadiah centers on a relationship. In Israel’s history, two brothers stand out in memory. The sons of Isaac – Jacob and Esau. They are famous for the differences and quarrels that marked their relationship. While restoration eventually occurred, Jacob and Esau are a picture of sibling rivalry. When Obadiah writes, shortly after the Babylonian armies had taken Jerusalem in 586 BC, the ongoing struggle between the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau once again rise to the surface. The nation of Edom is made up of the descendants of Esau. Israelites, the sons of Jacob, flee the destruction of the Babylonians, only to be handed over to their enemies by the Edomites. The Edomites even move into Judean towns and take over Judean homes and lands. As God looks on, He becomes angry over this betrayal. In the eyes of God, relationships are important. How we treat each other is supposed to be a display of God’s love. The apostle John would later write, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Embedding the Bible means taking a good look at our relationships. How are we displaying the love of Christ in the world today?

The Bible is full of promises. Promises from God to man. In Isaiah 59:20, we have an example of an incredible promise. Isaiah writes, “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.” It is a promise that Jesus will come. At a time when the people of God need hope and a glimpse of light, God promises the Savior. God promises to redeem His people and to call them to righteousness. Within the promise is a call to turn away from sin and surrender to the power of God to bring us back from the brink of death and destruction. This promise is prominent throughout the Bible. This accountability is a central call by God to man. Today we experience the fulfillment of that promise when we surrender to Jesus. When we stop at the foot of the cross. Jesus is at the heart of God’s plan for man. Embedding the Bible calls us to see Jesus in every word.