DAILY BREAD READING (Published Daily by Our Daily Bread Ministries)
APRIL 27, 2026
READ: Jeremiah 18 (Focus vs. 1-6)
MEMORY VERSE
“The potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”Jeremiah 18:4
BACKGROUND
Not much is known about Adelaide Pollard, and that’s sort of the point. She was a humble servant of God who wanted no recognition for herself. At the age of forty, she felt a strong calling to be a missionary to Africa, but that door was closed to her, leaving her greatly discouraged.
Yet Adelaide was reminded of a verse: “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand” (Jeremiah 18:6). Later, she penned a hymn with these lyrics: “Thou art the potter, I am the clay.”
The image in Jeremiah has much to speak into our lives today: “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” (18:4). This is a picture of how God reshapes us into His better purpose.
Whatever we think we should do and be, God may have another shape for our lives: “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand” (v. 6).
Eventually Adelaide did go to Africa, but it may be that God’s shape for her life had more to do with other things—perhaps writing that hymn, “Have Thine Own Way,” which has inspired millions in the years since.
When we feel “on hold” in what we want to do, we might think about how God is shaping us in the meantime. We do well to let God have His own way and wait, “yielded and still,” for His greater purpose.
Kenneth Petersen
INSIGHT
Jeremiah 18:6 reminds us that God is “the potter” who shapes and uses us for His purpose. Moses is an example of someone who was used by God.
In Acts 7, Stephen says of him, “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. . . . Moses thought that [they] would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not” (vv. 23-25).
He overestimated his readiness. His instincts were good, but his timing wasn’t.
Eventually, after forty years of “relative” silence, he was ready for God’s assignment and rescued his people:
“This is the same Moses they had rejected. . . . He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself . . . . He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness” (vv. 35-36).
Today, when we yield ourselves to God, He’ll use us for His purpose in His timing.
Arthur Jackson”
APPLICATION
How do you feel discouraged in your life goals today? How might you let God have His way with your life?
PR’s (Pastor Richard) RE-EMPHASIS (From Today’s Post)
“When we feel “on hold” in what we want to do, we might think about how God is shaping us in the meantime. We do well to let God have His own way and wait, “yielded and still,” for His greater purpose.”
PR’s TAKE
God’s answer to our prayers (requests) is always either a YES; WAIT or A FIRM NO. Either way, we can be yielded and still because He is in control. pr
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
“ For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
PRAYER
“Dear God, please help me yield myself to Your potter’s hand.”
TODAY’S HYMN/WORSHIP/PRAISE/GOSPEL SONG
“HAVE THINE OWN WAY LORD…”
Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me
After thy will,
While I am waiting,
Yielded and still.
Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Search me and try me,
Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord,
Wash me just now,
As in thy presence
Humbly I bow.
Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary,
Help me I pray!
Power, all power,
Surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me,
Savior divine!
Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Hold o’er my being
Absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit
Till all shall see
Christ only, always,
living in me!
