"...I will show them my BACK and not my FACE" - the "IF" clause!

Lessons At the Potter's House (continued):
-from Jeremiah 18

FOCUS:  The Lord retains the right of limiting his own absolute sovereignty on the basis of human response to his offers of pardon and restoration and his threats of judgment and destruction !!! Depending on how we respond, we will see God's FACE or his BACK.

"If...If...If...If..." :  The "IF" clause of God's sovereignty:


Jeremiah 18:  (Selectively)
Verse 7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8and If that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.9And If at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10and If it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.  11 ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’12But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

13Therefore this is what the Lord says: . . .

15 . . .  my people have forgotten me  . . . 17 . . .I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”

Here in Jeremiah 18, we can clearly see how God's promises and threats are conditioned on man's actions. Whether in nationhood or at a personal level,  God, who himself does not change, nevertheless will change his preannounced response to man, depending on what man does.  

I John 1:9-10 says:

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

The man who asks forgiveness, and turns from the wrong way he is going, "reforms his ways and actions"  is promised here to receive his FACE.  His face symbolizes his gracious blessing and favour.

I want much more of God's gracious blessing and favour in my life, far more than his back.  Oh God it's your FACE I seek !  Keep me Oh God from your back - It's your FACE, your grace and favour that I want more and more and more !!!  May I live my live daily before you, more conscious of each word and deed before You and the others you've placed in my life!  

I ask that your Holy Spirit will convict me of the sin in my life daily.  May I get past my own flesh and be a blessing to others around me.  I'm starting to understand Lord, that ...IT's NOT ABOUT ME!