The Potter's Wheel

Jeremiah 18:2-6 – "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: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel." (NIV)

Romans 9:20-21 – But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (NIV)

The sovereignty of God is paramount in Scripture. The image of God as the potter and Israel as the Lord's vessel, is echoed in a more personal way by St. Paul. Paul sees each one as a work in progress in the hands of the Master Potter.

Oh, it is painful to be reworked on the potter's wheel when this clay has become old, dry and brittle. How it hurts when God gradually cuts away with his potter's knife everything that is making the clay of this vessel imperfect. It seems as if the Lord must nearly drown me with salt tears to make me pliable again so that I will conform to the likeness of Christ.

In my lonely years God has shown me so many defects of character which I would never have seen had my husband still been here to occupy my attention. I would not have been open to the changes which have been needed to make me a better person and minister of the Gospel. This conforming to the likeness of Christ is such a long and drawn out process. It is one of the good things, however painful, that has come from my widowhood. Another good thing is the assurance that God is in the process and that whatever the Lord creates is good.

Prayer: O Great Potter, in Jesus' name, make me more pliable in Your hands so that I might grow more fully in grace and truth. Sprinkle this lumpy, hard clay with living water that I might be more mouldable in Your creative hands. For I pray in our loving Saviour's name. Amen.