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 that 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.
Quote of
the day: “When we know God’s heart, we will never question His will.”
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