"All-Around Goodness"

"The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land." (Psalms 95:5)
There really is a sizable difference between being in or out of fellowship with God. As with that closing Scripture yesterday, David had to know what it was like to be out of fellowship his Heavenly Father, and what it took to be restored to fellowship. One thing for sure, it did not take doing some kind of work or ceremonial cleansing; it just required a broken heart willing to ask for forgiveness. That's the difference between those that are in and those that are out; the ones that are in are the ones who acknowledge what they have done and ask God for forgiveness; the ones that are out, can't even see their own need to be forgiven. It might be hard to see the similarity between what I am saying and this verse we have before us today; but it's not very had to understand the reason we need to accept our reasonable service to a God that not only loves us, but that has the power to make us or break us. In a strange and round-about way, this can be very much connected to the idea of God being the Potter and us being the clay. If you know anything about making pots out of clay, it requires water and dry ground. Not that it matters, but God did form man from the ground, and water is closely associated with God's word; so you put those two ideas together, and all that's left is the wheel to turn out the jars. Where do we want to be on that wheel? I am thinking it's the center of the wheel is where we want to be, don't you? If we are not in the center, then God cannot work very well with us. But isn't He that places us in the center? Absolutely! We ask Him to and He does; that's what happening when we ask for forgiveness. And when we slip out of fellowship, we move away from the center, causing the formation of the jar to be distorted. We stay out of fellowship too long, and the jar not only gets distorted, but breaks down and gets tossed out into the Potter's Field. Where that represents I have no idea, except to say it might later be ground up and used for mortar. Where would you like to be placed? That's what I believe David was getting to in the opening verses of Psalms 21. If our heart's desire is to be restored into fellowship with our loving Father, then that is exactly where God wants us to be; right there in the middle of that wheel. And if the center of the wheel represents Christ, then anything outside that center represents the world. We can see how clearly the world will have an influence on the jar's shape. Just a little can matter a whole lot; no pun intended...
""Yet even in those days I will not blot you out completely," says the LORD. "And when your people ask, 'Why did the LORD our God do all this to us?' you must reply, 'You rejected him and gave yourselves to foreign gods in your own land. Now you will serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.' "Make this announcement to Israel, and say this to Judah: Listen, you foolish and senseless people, with eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. Have you no respect for me? Why don't you tremble in my presence? I, the LORD, define the ocean's sandy shoreline as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross. The waves may toss and roar, but they can never pass the boundaries that I set. But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned away and abandoned me. They do not say from the heart, 'Let us live in awe of the LORD our God, for he gives us rain each spring and fall, assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.' Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings. Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.""
(Jeremiah 5:18-25) NLT