Treasure in Earthen Vessels

David, the man after God’s own heart, was a murdering adulterer who had no moral right to any of God’s blessings. Peter denied the very Lord God of heaven and cursed the one who loved him most. Abraham, the father of nations, lived a lie and used his wife as a pawn to save his own skin. Jacob was a conniver. Adam and Eve turned a perfect marriage arrangement into a nightmare. Solomon, the wisest man on earth, did some of the most foolish things ever recorded. Jonah despised the mercy of God toward a repentant people and wanted to see an entire city burn to justify his prophecies against it. This list goes on and on.

Men who loved and were greatly used by God were almost driven to the ground by their weaknesses. God met them at their lowest point, saying, “I called you; I will be with you. I will accomplish my will regardless!” God has determined to accomplish his goals here on earth through men with weaknesses.

One of the most encouraging scriptures in the Bible is in 2 Corinthians: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NKJV). Paul describes those earthen vessels as dying men, troubled on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down. Although never forsaken, those men used by God are constantly groaning under the burden of their bodies, waiting anxiously to be clothed with new ones.

God mocks man’s power. He laughs at our egotistical efforts at being good. He never uses the high and mighty but, instead, uses the weak things of this world to confound the wise.

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).

Beloved, God puts his priceless treasures in earthen vessels because he delights in doing the impossible with nothing.