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
Have you ever been to one of those places that has a whole community set up just like things used to be in the early 1800s? Everything is so primitive and all the people in the community are working together to make ends meet. I’ve always been impressed by the blacksmith shop, intrigued by the candle-maker, and in awe of the woodworkers. However, one place I went had a pottery. There sat a potter, with a lump of clay on the wheel, molding a bowl. As I sat there and watched, it reminded me that God describes us as a lump of clay on His wheel that He is shaping for His purpose.
As I watched this potter, I was struck by several thoughts. At no point in the process did I see that lump clay jump up and look at the potter and tell him it did not want to be a bowl. You see, that lump of clay can do nothing on its own. It could only become what the potter had designed for it to be. When we rebel against the plans that God has for our lives, we are essentially telling the Potter that we know better and that we could do better than He. As foolish as it sounds for the lump of clay to shake its fist at the potter and decide it wants to be something different, we are just as senseless when we try to go against the perfect plan God has prepared for us.
The second thing I noticed is that the clay was completely dependent upon the potter to mold it into something useful. That clay had no ability on its own and it had no power to form itself into anything other than what that potter was planning for it. Neither do we have any ability on our own. We may be more talented than some, and we may have been blessed with greater abilities than others, but everything we are is because God chose to make us that way.
Lastly, when the skillful hands of the potter were finished shaping that clay into a bowl, a beautiful product was produced. But I noticed that the bowl did not make itself. Though it was beautiful, it had nothing to brag about because it had nothing to do with what it became. When God uses you, it is because He has a purpose for your life and because He chose to use you. You have nothing to do with it and, therefore, have nothing to brag about. Some bowls may be prettier than others or more ornately sculpted, but all are just as useful for holding things.
God has a plan for each person’s life, and as clay in the hands of the potter, we should be completely dependent upon Him to mold us into what He will.
Read also: Jeremiah 18:1-6
Quote of the day: “When we know God’s heart, we will never question His will.”
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