The Potter and The Clay
We resist letting go, clinging to control, yet God is the Master Potter, tenderly shaping our lives through pressure and waiting into vessels of beauty.
O LORD, You are our Father.
We are the clay, You are the Potter.
we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
Commitment is hard for us. When we think of giving up – entrusting – letting go, all of us want to hold on to a part no matter how small, because in letting go we lose control and dare not trust the outcome to someone else. God understands. He knows our limitations and shows us a beautiful, tender picture of the Potter.
The Master Potter
God as the Master Potter longs to mold the piece of clay in His hands into an object of perfect beauty and He holds us tenderly, patiently, carefully forming us into His Son’s image, He is working to unbind what is bound. His one purpose is to release the clay to become all that it can become.
Without truly realizing it we are so much in bondage, bondage to people and things, bondage to our body of sin, our thoughts and our feelings, bondage to our past, fears for the future, and the present is a blur of worry and fretting, of doing, yet still doing, and never being able to get off the merry go round of life.
And God is calling us to be all that He intends for us to be – A trophy of His grace and love! Each of us has unique contributions to make, and there is no one who can take the place God intended for us, but He is more concerned not with what we do but what we are becoming. In spite of our flaws, we are His masterpieces – worthy vessels of the Master Potter. We are designs beyond comparison that confound science and technology, because we are made in God’s image.
God Chose Us
God made us in His image, but sadly, man sinned. God however was going to take that marred image, break up the clay and patiently and tenderly restore these vessels until they would be not only whole, but perfect and awesome to behold. They would once again reflect His image.
Even the most magnificent piece of pottery has humble beginnings starting out as particles of dust. It is the work of the potter to help each to reach its potential. Our loving Father sees beyond the shapeless lump of clay to the finished refined vessel. What a comfort to know in turbulent times that God knew us before the world ever came into being.
God Prepares Us
The preparation of clay for service is a long, slow process by which it gains its unusual strength and resilience. It is at these times we as clay in God’s hands are screaming “get it moving, I am tired of waiting, why don’t you do something about it, God? Why can’t I get what I want now?”
Think of the butterfly and the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening. It is God’s way of forcing life giving fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so it would be ready for flight once it achieves its freedom from the cocoon. And it is as God takes His time that we begin to emerge ready for God to do His work in and through us.
God Gives Us Value
Clay has no apparent value of its own, yet it is made into objects of great value, and it is the potter who gives it its value. Much like the clay we often need to be weathered for a while before we are ready for use. God is willing to wait for He knows that the finished object will be worth waiting for.
The Potter centers the clay on the wheel. With steady pressure His skillful hands pull the whirling mass into a cylinder. His thumbs form a hole in the cylinder, and the lump begins to take the shape of a vessel.
He then cups the bottom of the cylinder with both hands and adds pressure in the middle of the pot with his thumbs, creating a squat, round base. While the shape continues to spin on the wheel, with gentle, artful movements his fingers tighten on the cylinder and molds a slender neck for the vase. In a matter of minutes, the potter has formed a graceful vase from a formless lump of clay.
It is here that we cannot stand it any longer. “Why am I still on the same merry go round? Why do the same things keep happening to me? God get me out of this!” When our world starts falling apart, the pressure is on, and we want it all to go away. But it is in the valleys that we grow, and it is there that we hear Him the loudest.
God Refines Us
God is in the process of transforming us and we are in the process continually as God waits patiently. We are in His hands, as He tenderly but firmly places us where we need to be.
In His hands I am free to make mistakes, I can be real, because He is holding me, pulling me where I need to be pulled, and stretching me where I need to be stretched, I can feel His gentle but firm touch shaping, molding me, all the while whispering to me and waiting for me to become the best that is in me. And finally, I hear him call me by name as I become the vessel he has created me to be in all its unique beauty, individual dignity, and special usefulness. Through the potter’s workmanship, the water, the rhythm of the wheel, and the fire, the clay is refined and changed through and through.
God Gives Us Beauty for Ugliness
Some clay contain impurities which causes the rich grays, dark browns, blues, and blacks found in true secondary clays, for the colors are the result of organic impurities burning out during firing. While these make the best pots, they also have a higher percentage of shrinkage during firing. In just such a way God takes our ugliness and turns it into beauty; He takes our weakness and converts it into strength. In the heat of our trials, our impurities are burned away, and beautiful patterns take their place. And as our weaknesses shrink away, we are left firmer and stronger. We can arise with each new day and trust God to make our lives into something beautiful, something good.
God Has A Purpose For Us
We do not always understand God’s purposes in our lives, or the periods of waiting. But seeing ourselves as clay, we can be confident that we are in the hands of a wise and knowing Master Potter. He knows what he is doing with each of us and knows what kind of preparation we need. The very power and image of God Himself is contained in these human bodies of clay, these earthen vessels. But He waits for a response from us, for in the measure that we respond to His leading, He continues working His higher plans for us.
Just as the Potter shapes the clay, God is continually shaping our lives into something beautiful. If today’s reflection spoke to your heart, I invite you to go deeper into my story. You can read more of my writing and testimony in my memoir, Heartbeat of a Survivor.
