It's Never Too Late To Turn Things Around

Jeremiah 18:7, 8 says: "If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned."

Sometimes, people act as if God's judgment or God's blessings are pre-determined. But God says through Jeremiah in this passage: "If I said I was going to destroy something or someone, but they repent, I won't do it." While I certainly won't pretend to understand everything about God's sovereignty, predestination, or His purposes (in fact, I understand very little about it), I do know that He told Jeremiah that repentance can change planned judgment.

What does that mean for you and I in the 21st Century? Again, I won't pretend to imply that I understand it all, but here is what I think it means for us...God's judgment is not a done deal on our nation, on our community, nor for you and I as individuals. It is never too late to change the course of our lives or the outcome of our lives.

Our future is not written in stone...Jeremiah says in is written in clay. There is still time to change the direction of your life!

Play Until The Final Out

This past weekend, the football world was filled with comebacks. On Saturday, the Denver Broncos had a victory and a trip to the AFC Championship within grasp, when the Baltimore Ravens threw a seventy-yard touchdown pass in the final seconds of the game to come back and win. On Sunday, The Atlanta Falcons had a 20 points half-time lead over the Seattle Seahawks and then saw the Seahawks come from behind to take a one point lead with just over 30 seconds left. Amazingly, the Falcons were able on three passes to get to the Seahawks 35 yard-line and kick a game-winning field-goal with under 15 seconds left in the game. Comebacks are amazing stories.


In football, a comeback not only involves a battle against the opponent, it also involves a battle against the clock. Some comeback efforts are stopped short when time runs out, like when the Georgia Bulldogs ran out of time against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game this year.


For that reason, baseball has the advantage in the comeback department, because there is no clock. You can never get too far behind in baseball to win as long as you have at least one more at-bat, one more strike. At some point in each football game, there comes a time when the lead is big enough that the winning team can take a knee and run out the clock. In baseball, you can't coast to a win; no lead is safe, no loss is certain, until the final out.

Life is like that as well. Our mantra in life should be "It's never too late...." And because of that, we should play until the final out. This week we are going to see why, from Jeremiah 18, it is never too late. 

Even In His Hands, We Can Be Marred

Just because you are in the Potter's hands doesn't mean you will never experience pain, heartache, or disappointment. As Jeremiah observed in verse 4: “But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands....” The New Living Translation says: “But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped...”

That is an amazing statement. What Jeremiah is telling us is this: There will be times when things turn out not only difference from the way you wanted, but different from the way God wanted them as well.

Here is a truth that we sometimes forget. Not everything that happens in life is by the design of God, but if you let him, God can redesign anything that happens. The Bible makes it pretty plain that lots of things happen that aren't his will at all. For instance, the Bible says that it's not God's will that any should perish...but there are many people who have refused to accept the truth of God's Word and have rejected Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."Why? Because in heaven His will is always done...not so on earth. In this life there are things that happen that are outside the will of God. 

Verse 4 continues: “the potter formed it into another pot...” As the ESV says... “and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” Things happen in our lives that are not God's will for us; however, nothing happens that is not under the control of God. There is no situation beyond his power to redeem. If we allow him, He can take the broken parts of our lives and shape them into something marvelous.

The Potter Is At The Wheel

Our tendency is to believe that the way things are is the way they will always be. Whether it is financial stress, relational problems, physical infirmities, or spiritual barrenness, in the moment of our struggles, we often feel like it will always be this way.

Jeremiah said in verse 3: “So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.” Obviously, the Potter in this story symbolizes God. And Jeremiah drives home an important truth that we often fail to remember...God is still at the wheel of your life. You may not feel that is true. It may not even appear to be true. Often we feel like a lump of clay spinning hopelessly out of control. But that is the farthest thing from the truth. Jeremiah encourages us, God is "working at the wheel". He is shaping, molding, and making you into your fullest potential.

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

Jeremiah 18 contains an amazing story where God uses a graphic illustration to drive a poignant point into the life of Jeremiah, and in turn, to those of us in the 21st Century. I want to encourage you to read Jeremiah 18:1-11.

I have recently been re-visiting the Ken Burns PBS series called Baseball. While watching this history of the game during the 50's, I was reminded of many of the great statements made by the New York Yankees player, Yogi Berra. Berra had a way of making statements that seemed completely illogical, and yet were full of logic. Like when he said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Or when he said, “A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.” He also said, “The future ain't what it used to be.” One time when sitting down at the table he said, “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six.” Another time he gave this sage advice, “Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.”

Probably the most famous Yogism is "It ain't over 'til it's over." No matter how things are in your life right now, Yogi would say, "It ain't over yet. And it won't be over until it's over."

I think of that when I read the story of the potter in Jeremiah 18. A mistake we often make is that we think that the way things are today is the way things always will be. The economy will always be this good, or this bad. Business will always be this good, or this bad. This relationship will always be this good or this bad. But I have discovered that few situations, are permanent. There is an ebb and flow to life. The tide comes in and the tide goes out.

The message the passage reiterates over and over is this: It ain't over till it's over. This week, we are going to look at reasons why, no matter what you may be experiencing at the moment, you can be sure that it ain't over.