Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Lutheran Hour Ministries 2014 Daily Lenten Devotion "SHATTERED POTS" by Reverend Wayne Palmer Saturday, 29 March 2014 - Read Psalm 75

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States - Lutheran Hour Ministries 2014 Daily Lenten Devotion "SHATTERED POTS" by Reverend Wayne Palmer Saturday, 29 March 2014 - Read Psalm 75: For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Psalm by Asaph. A song.
1 We give thanks to you, God.
    We give thanks, for your Name is near.
    Men tell about your wondrous works.
2 When I choose the appointed time,
    I will judge blamelessly.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants quake.
    I firmly hold its pillars.
Selah.
4 I said to the arrogant, “Don’t boast!”
    I said to the wicked, “Don’t lift up the horn.
5 Don’t lift up your horn on high.
    Don’t speak with a stiff neck.”
6 For neither from the east, nor from the west,
    nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.
7 But God is the judge.
    He puts down one, and lifts up another.
8 For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup,
    full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours it out.
    Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.
9 But I will declare this forever:
    I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
    but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
TEXT: My strength is dried up like a potsherd (see Psalm 22:15).
Jews commonly used clay pots to store water. When a jar broke into shards or pieces (called potsherds) it was utterly useless. No longer able to hold water the shards that once made up that pot dried up and grew brittle under the blazing sun.
The image of a broken pot fits in well with the previous verse where Jesus says He is poured out like water, and His heart has melted within His breast. Jesus' body has been lashed, beaten, pierced and stretched out of joint. Like a broken pot, His lifeblood pours out from His head, His hands, His feet, His battered shoulders, back and legs. His life and strength slowly ebbs away.
If you stop a moment and think of Judas, the disciple that betrayed Jesus, you see another shattered pot. After he learned Jesus was condemned, Judas felt great regret for his sin. But instead of trusting Jesus' promise to forgive and restore him, Judas went out and hanged himself. The priests took the betrayal money and bought the field where Judas killed himself as a burial ground for strangers. That field was a potter's field, a field strewn with broken potsherds. Through his lack of faith and subsequent suicide Judas became another broken pot, good for nothing but destruction.
All of us are cracked clay pots, if not broken and shattered. Yet in mercy Jesus comes to repair His broken pots, to make us useful for God's purposes again. As we live out our vocations we serve God by serving one another. As we share the news of Jesus' sacrifice, the Spirit is at work, repairing other broken pots.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, You were like a shattered pot on the cross, pouring out Your lifeblood for our salvation. Repair my shattered life, and work through me to fulfill Your purpose for my life. Amen.  
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