Cup of Faith - Day 17

Scripture of the Day

Jeremiah 18:1-6 - This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
           ⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

Devotion of the Day

Today's devotion is from "Our Daily Bread" devotional online odb.org. The title of the devo is called "Broken But Beautiful" by Cindy Hess Kasper.


Recently, my daughter showed me her collection of sea glass. Also known as beach glass, the varied bits of colored glass are sometimes pieces of pottery but often they are pieces of shattered glass bottles.

Originally the glass had a purpose, but then it was casually thrown away and became broken.
If the discarded glass ends up in an ocean, its journey is just beginning. As it is relentlessly tossed about by currents and tides, its jagged edges are ground down by the sand and waves and eventually are smoothed away and rounded off. The result is something beautiful. The jewel-like sea glass has found new life and is treasured by collectors and artists.

In a similar way, a broken life can be renewed when it is touched by God’s love and grace. In the Old Testament, we read that when the prophet Jeremiah watched a potter working, he noticed that if an object was marred the potter simply reshaped it (Jer. 18:1-6). God explained that in His hands the people of ancient Israel were like clay, which He would shape as He saw best.

We are never too badly broken for God to reshape. He loves us in spite of our imperfections and past mistakes, and He desires to make us beautiful.

When melted by trial, we can be fully molded by the Potter....this is the same message that Paul delivers to the church of Corinth. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). God takes the old and broken and fashions it into something new and useful.

Focus Points of the Day

Question - What is something "old and broken" that you need God's help to fashion into something "new and useful"? 

Action - Ask God today to take your broken spots and reshape them into something beautiful. This may be a past mistake, a sin you struggle with or even hurt feelings. Talk to him about today. He has the power to simply reshape your life!