Jeremiah watched a potter reshape a marred vessel and learned what the Lord can do with anyone who stays soft in His hands
The Lord knew us before we were born and has not given up on us; like a potter reshaping marred clay, He can remake us when we turn to Him, as long as we stay soft in His hands instead of deciding, “There is no hope.”
I can stay soft in the Lord’s hands, let Him reshape what is marred in me, and turn from broken cisterns to the fountain of living waters.
Jeremiah was called as a young man, “in the thirteenth year” of King Josiah. That’s Jeremiah 1:2, around 627 BC. He prophesied for about forty years, through Judah’s last kings and the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon. He lived at the same time as Lehi. His prophecies were on the brass plates Nephi took from Jerusalem, as 1 Nephi 5:13 says. Nephi also mentions in 1 Nephi 7:14 that the people had thrown Jeremiah in prison. His message was unpopular. Turn back to the Lord, or Jerusalem will fall. He was mocked and beaten. In 20:2 he’s put in the stocks, and later he’s imprisoned. His book is unusually honest about how much his calling hurt.
This week’s chapters cover a lot. Chapter 1 is his call. The Lord says in 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.” Jeremiah protests in 1:6, “I am a child.” In 2:13 the people leave “the fountain of living waters” for “broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Chapter 3 pleads, “Return, ye backsliding children.” In 3:14 the Lord promises to gather “one of a city, and two of a family” to Zion. In chapter 7, Jeremiah stands at the temple gate. He warns people not to trust in the words “The temple of the Lord” while mistreating the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. In 16:16 the Lord sends “fishers” and “hunters” to gather Israel. In 17:5–8, the person who trusts in man is set against a tree planted by the waters.
This lesson centers on Jeremiah 18. The Lord sends Jeremiah to watch a potter at work. The KJV says the potter “wrought a work on the wheels.” The Hebrew speaks of two stones. An ancient wheel had an upper stone for shaping and a lower one turned by the feet. In 18:4 the vessel is “marred,” but the potter doesn’t throw the clay away. He makes “another vessel.” Then comes the lesson in 18:6: “as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand.” In verses 7 to 10, the Lord’s warnings and blessings depend on how people respond. The tragedy is their reply in 18:12: “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices.” In the next chapter, Jeremiah breaks a hardened clay bottle before the elders. That’s 19:1 and 10–11. Soft clay can be reshaped. Fired clay can only be broken.
Twenty-five minutes won’t cover all eight chapters. Walk through Jeremiah 18 in five short readings. Touch on 1:5 and 2:13 in the discussion, and trust the class to read the rest this week. Jeremiah 20, with its fire in the bones, is ready as a bonus step.
Read Jeremiah 18 in five short stops: verses 1–4, 5–8, 11–12, 13–15 and 18–20. Bridge the gaps in a sentence. Open by asking what clay needs to be reshaped. Ask one question at each stop. Spend the most time on Soft Clay. Close with 3:22, a testimony or two, and an invitation to ask the Lord what He wants to reshape.
Tick what you have. Forgot something? Every step that needs a supply has a no-supplies version in the plan below.
Before class
Bonus steps are for when you have extra time. Each “On the screen” line is what the class sees on a shared screen in Teach Mode in the Gospel Sparks app; on paper, read it aloud or write it on the board.
Asks what makes something reshapable, before anyone opens Jeremiah.
On the screen: 🏺 What does clay need in order to be reshaped?
Walks through Jeremiah 18 a few verses at a time, from the potter’s wheel to a people who said “There is no hope,” with one question at each stop.
On the screen: 🏺 Jeremiah 18: the potter, the marred clay, and a people who said “There is no hope” · Five short readings: 18:1–4 · 5–8 · 11–12 · 13–15 · 18–20
Instead of: The shared screen (TV or device) with Teach Mode open
Studies Jeremiah 18:4–6 closely so class members see what the Potter does with marred clay.
On the screen: 🤲 As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand. · Jeremiah 18:4–6 · What does the potter do with the marred vessel?
Helps adults recognize how the Lord reshapes them and what keeps them soft enough to be reshaped.
On the screen: 🏺 He made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter. · Jeremiah 18:4
Ends with testimony that the Lord still reshapes and heals those who turn to Him, and a personal invitation.
On the screen: 🙏 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. · Jeremiah 3:22 · This week: ask, “What do You want to reshape in me?”
Looks honestly at the cost of Jeremiah’s calling and why he kept going.
On the screen: 🔥 His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones. · Jeremiah 20:7–9, 11
Scenes
🏺 Down to the potter’s house
The Lord sends Jeremiah to watch a craftsman at work. Let’s read Jeremiah 18, verses 1 to 4. Watch what the potter does when the pot collapses. He doesn’t throw the clay away. He makes it “again another vessel.”
💬 Ask: Why doesn’t the potter throw the marred clay away? Follow-up: What does that tell you about how the Lord sees us?
🤲 “As the clay is in the potter’s hand”
Now verses 5 to 8. The Lord explains what Jeremiah saw. Even a warning already spoken can change. If a nation turns, He will “repent of the evil” He had planned.
💬 Ask: His warnings come with an open door. What does that tell you about the Lord? Follow-up: When has turning changed your future?
🧱 “There is no hope”
It works the other way too. In verses 9 and 10, a people promised good can turn from it. Now read verses 11 and 12. The Lord pleads, “return ye now.” Listen to the people’s answer.
💬 Ask: Why is “there is no hope” such a dangerous thing to believe? Follow-up: Where do we hear that voice today?
🏔️ Snow of Lebanon, cold flowing waters
Now verses 13 to 15. Who would leave clean snowmelt and cold, flowing water? Yet “my people hath forgotten me.” They walk “in a way not cast up.” That means off the built road.
💬 Ask: What pulls good people off the road, onto paths not built for them? Follow-up: What has brought you back?
🕳️ “They have digged a pit for my soul”
In verses 16 and 17, the Lord warns the land will be scattered, as by an east wind. Then Jeremiah’s own people turn on him. Read verses 18 to 20. Right after, in verses 21 to 23, his hurt pours out. It’s a raw, angry prayer.
💬 Ask: When have you been hurt for trying to do good? Follow-up: What did the Lord do with that hurt?
“O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.”
More verses
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.”
“Having prophets is a sign of God’s love for His children.”
— Elder Ulisses Soares, “Prophets Speak by the Power of the Holy Spirit,” April 2018
Share in the bonus step Fire Shut Up in My Bones, after reading Jeremiah 20:11.
Read the talk ↗This week, ask the Lord, “What do You want to reshape in me?” Write down what comes, and act on one small part of it. Then find one broken cistern in your routine. Trade it for time at the fountain, like scripture, prayer or the temple.
In Sunday School we read about Jeremiah at the potter’s house. When a pot was marred, the potter didn’t throw it away. He made it again. That’s Jeremiah 18:4–6. The Lord can reshape us too. At home, play with some clay or dough together. Talk about what helps us stay soft in the Lord’s hands.
📝 After class
What worked? Who needs a check-in this week? Jot it here on a printed copy, or in the app’s private class notes.
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, the Bible used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tap or click a reference to open it in Gospel Library. Start with the official Come, Follow Me manual; these ideas are here to help it come alive.
