“But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.” Isaiah 64:8
I remember taking a Ceramics class
in Junior High school and getting to use a Potter’s Wheel. Making a lump of clay into a bowl
was hard work for me. It was time consuming, it was messy, and I had to keep
adding water to the clay to prevent it from drying out and keeping it moldable.
Creating what God wants me to be,
is not hard for my Father the Potter.
His hands have created beautiful things,
just look around. He also has all the time in the world to work on me and
He continues to work on me every moment of every day. Sometimes He has to splash water
on me to remind me to confess the sins that have crept into my life, because my
sin will harden me. Sin in my life will resist the hands of the Potter, I will want to
become what ‘I’ want, instead of what the Potter wants.
A friend recently told me, "This verse brings a lot of memories from when I had Ceramics Class. If I could not center the clay on the wheel, there was zero chance of making anything close to what I needed it to be. I think it is that way with the Lord. He needs to be what centers us, or we just cannot do anything in this life that is good or pleasing to God." TB
God wants to mold us to become what
He purposes for us to be. (Do we let Him?) He is constantly turning and shaping us in the palms of
His hands.
Have you ever walked into a Ceramic
studio and seen lumps of clay? They are all different shapes, sizes and colors. The clay that have been on the
shelves too long have become hard and unmold able. They are left on the shelf because they cannot be formed into the image the potter had planned for it.
Has sin in my life caused me to harden?
Have I placed myself on the shelf?
Un-useable?
Do I resist being formed by the hands of my Potter?
Once the clay has been formed and
shaped, designs are added to make their work individual pieces of art. We have a Personal Potter. We will all be shaped differently
for different purposes.
And then the clay is put in a fiery
kiln. A shiny seal turned the dull clay into something worth
looking at. And all those who look upon it, will turn to the Artist
and say, ‘Wow! That is beautiful! Your work is magnificent!’
You see, the clay doesn’t make
itself beautiful, it becomes beautiful in the hands of the Potter.
Sometimes the Potter has to put us
in the fire to remove our impurities. To allow his own personal design to rise to the
surface.
And then when people look at our
lives, they can look to our Father and say, ‘Wow! I see YOU in them. You are a wonderful Creator, your are Almighty!’
So-
Do I allow the Potter to mold me
into His image? Or have I become hardened to the Holy Spirit of God?
Do I want to be molded to serve His
purpose, or do I want to do what I want.
Am I a work of art that points
others to Jesus, or have I become a lump of clay that sits on a shelf?
God is our Potter and we are the clay, not the other way around. Recognizing that we are the clay shows complete submission to our Father, the Potter.
We are so blessed to be held in the palm of our Father's hands...
being molded into useable vessels...
For His honor and glory...
But that's just me!
"You see, a potter can only mold the clay when it lies completely in his hand. It requires complete surrender." Corrie ten Boom
Other references of the Potter and the clay are found in Jeremiah 18:1-6,
Romans 9:21 and Revelation 2:27
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