WEEK THREE - DAY TWO - READING WITH CURIOSITY

 Cu·ri·os·i·ty

/ˌkyo͝orēˈäsədē/     noun

• 1.a strong desire to know or learn something:"filled with curiosity, she peered through the window"Similarinquisitivenessinterestspirit of inquiryinformal: nosiness

Curiosity can be a great driver of learning...the more we want to know, the more we will seek greater knowledge and understanding of a subject.  When we approach the study of Scripture, we should be very curious and we should allow that God-given curiosity to send us deeper and deeper into the mine of His Word to excavate every nugget of treasure that we can discover!  If we view our study as a great treasure hunt, where the treasure is one of ULTIMATE value, we won't be able to stay away!  Proverbs 2:3-5 says, "if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God."

Curiosity prompts questions...who, what, where, when and why are the five essential questions of journalism. They're not bad questions for us to ask when we're reading God's Word either.  WHO is this passage addressed to; WHAT is God saying through the passage; WHERE are we in the geography of the world and what people groups and cultures come into play; WHEN is the passage taking place, both in world history and in the chronology of God's great narrative of Holy Scripture; and WHY do we think the Holy Spirit felt this passage critical to be included in all of the words that could have been included in God's transpired Word...all really good questions to ponder as we study God's Word.  

Our study guide offers three simple questions to keep in mind:

1.  What will we learn about God, about who He is, how He interacts with His people and what the verses say about His character?

2.  What will we learn about ourselves, about how we approach God, what He might be calling us to do, how He expresses His love toward us, and what is standing in our way of growing closer to Him?

3.  Is there anything that God is specifically saying about our current thoughts, attitudes or actions that may require change in us?

So comes to us the illustration of the Potter and the clay.  It doesn't seem like that difficult of an allegory - there's a potter and he's working a pot and it becomes disformed so he changes his mind about how the pot is going to look, "as seemed best to him."  So, being the curious students that we are, do we settle for that...do we say, "God is the Potter, I am the clay, He can make me as He wills."  That is certainly a true statement - is that all there is to this story?

Our study guide author points out that the name used for God in Jeremiah over and over again is the name Lord Sabaoth which is translated the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the Lord Almighty, the Lord of Hosts or the Lord of Armies.  "This is the 'military' name of God, for 'hosts' comes from a Hebrew word that means 'to wage war.'  The Lord is the Commander of the hosts and heaven; the stars, the angels, the armies of Israel and all who trust in Him."  God is powerful!  And He has at His disposal all the angels of heavens vast domain.  He rules over nations and over the rulers of nations.  He can uproot nations and He can plant other nations to take their place...and if, in the middle of forming a beautiful pot and it starts going a little "wonky", He can reshape it into whatever He knows is best.  

Unlike the human potter in the illustration who looks at the marred pot and shapes it into what "seems" best to him, God knows without a doubt that when a nation, or a person, that He has called for purpose begins to fight against His hand of shaping, He has the power to reshape that "pot" into whatever is best for His ultimate plan.  Does this mean God changes His mind?  Oh, we could chase that rabbit trail for hours on end, but what I see in this passage, is that God remains fluid in the accomplishment of His perfect plan while simultaneously allowing for our freed will.   While God knows what is to come, He does things in response to our obedience and to our disobedience.  While He knows the actions that He will have to take, they are not what He would have preferred...He would have preferred this pot to have been shaped into the beautiful piece of art that He had imagined when He had first seen it in His mind.  God would have preferred that Israel had remained a nation called to His purpose and obedient to His commands.  But there had been a resistance, and the "pot" had become marred and He changed the His design in response to that resistance.  The earthly potter may have not seen this coming, but our Lord Almighty, knower of all things past and present, certainly sees it coming.  

So for this curious student, this passage is about more than just God shaping us as He wills, it is also a passage of His complete sovereignty balanced against His gift to us of free will.  Of this I am certain, I worship an almighty God who has an eternal plan of absolute perfection.  No one can stop Him from the accomplishment of His great and good plan.  But our choices to resist Him can cause Him to adjust the shape of His plan, never catching Him by surprise, and never causing Him to skip a beat.  And those adjustments never cost Him, but they can certainly cost us.  They can cost us the opportunity He had for us to participate in His beautiful works of art, that one brushstroke of perfection that could have been ours was given to someone else who was ready to obey.  And our life, our pot, took a little different shape than God had in mind for us.  Repentance comes, and we become finished works of art in His breathtaking gallery, but I kind of like to think of God smiling at the little bit of wonky He left to remind me of my stubbornness!