Clay In His Hands

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. (Jeremiah 18: 1-6)

God sends Jeremiah to the potter for a visual lesson. Sometimes we need to see something to fully understand the meaning in a message and God uses a potter and his clay to communicate a truth that we all need to fully grasp and make part of our DNA.

I have always enjoyed watching a potter work with clay on a wheel. It is almost magical to watch a lump of clay turn into a vase. The clay starts out as a blob, without form and in the skilled hands of the potter becomes a beautiful, yet useful vessel. He has done this many times before and it shows in his skill at working with this unforgiving medium. One wrong move, one touch here or there, the amazing work turns into a twisted mess. Thankfully, the potter knows what he is doing and even when a mess is made, he is able to take what is left and turn it into something of value.

God is like that! He knows and understands the materials He is working with. He has formed and reformed multiplied millions of lives in useful, beautiful vessels for His use. No matter what the lump looked like before His hands touched it, the clay is forever changed after His touch. No lump is beyond His ability to change, if the lump will only get on the wheel.

Every lump is "marred" before He shapes it, no one is without blemish and everyone needs His touch. He can form any messed up life into something that is useful to Him, if He is allowed the opportunity. We must be willing to "be shaped as it seems best to Him." He is the potter and He determines how to mold and shape each person in service to Him. The clay cannot say to the potter "make me a flower pot" or "make me a water pitcher". It is in the hands of the potter to decide what each lump will become.

For many of us, allowing someone to have that kind of authority in our lives is scary. Submitting ourselves to that kind of shaping and molding takes trust. We must consider who or what is shaping our lives, who have we turned over control to? Is it television? Is it a book? Is it our friends or our family? Is it our computer or our smart phone? Something or someone is shaping each of us. We have made the decision (consciously or unconsciously) to trust.

Our creator is calling us to submit to His authority, His shaping of our lives. Nothing or no one is in the position God is in to know what is best for us. He made us and He knows what our lumps should become. His hands understand our needs and are able to form us into just the right person.

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand". He is able, unlike anyone else to know you inside and out and to give you the life that your heart longs for. Get on the wheel; allow Him to work in your life. Allow His hands to fix the blemishes, allow His hands to shape your life into something beautiful and useful to Him.