So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But 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. Jeremiah 18:3-4
God sends Jeremiah to the potter's house to observe how the potter creates something out of nothing. And, then, he challenges Jeremiah with these words:
Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and 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. Jeremiah 18:6-10
God's words are simple and so profound - He has the power to save and the power to destroy. What also is important to remember here is that God is willing and able to change His mind, based on how His people react to His decree. Have you ever thought of your life in that way before? The people of the Old Testament had a different and unique relationship to God. He was power. He was might. He was the God of life and the God of destruction all at once.
The promise of this passage of Jeremiah is that God can and will mold and shape all His people by His plan.