20/12/2017
The Potters Hand
The Bible uses symbolism to deepen the message God has for His people. One such symbol is that of potter and clay. The most detailed example is found in Jeremiah 18. God instructed the prophet Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house where God would illustrate His relationship with Israel. Verses 2–6 say, “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.’”
Although God allows human beings freedom to make moral choices, He demonstrates often that He is still sovereign and in control of His universe. He does whatever He wills with His creation (Psalm 135:6; 155:3; Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 46:9–11). We need frequent reminders that God is over all and can do as He pleases whether we understand His actions or not (Romans 9:20–21). He owes us nothing yet chooses to extend to us the utmost patience, kindness, and compassion (Jeremiah 9:24; Psalm 36:10; 103:4, 17). The potter working with the clay reminds us that God is at work in us “for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?”
God has created each of us the way He wants us (Psalm 139:13–16; Exodus 4:11). It is our responsibility to take what He has given us and use it for His glory and pleasure. In doing so, we find our ultimate fulfillment. Rather than live with disappointment and dissatisfaction with what God has or has not given us, we can choose to thank Him in everything (Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15). Just as the clay finds its highest purpose when it remains pliable in the hands of the potter, so our lives fulfill their highest purpose when we let our Potter have His way with us.
Clay In The Potter's Hand is a popular hymn employing the analogy of God as the potter, and Christians as the clay.
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay,
Make of my life as pleases Thee each day;
Weave into beauty as You have it planned,
Make me as clay in the potter's hand.
Mold me, make me, as You'd have me be,
Take me, use me, that the lost may see;
Guard me, guide me, thru this pilgrim land,
Make me as clay, in the potter's hand.
The Potter and Clay
A potter is a person who takes clay and makes it into pottery.
Moist clay is turned on a wheel as the potter molds it into whatever he wants. After it's complete, the potter's creation is fired in a kiln, which hardens the clay.
In the analogy, God is the potter and we are the clay.
We are the Work of God's Hands Through His Word
As clay is the work of a potter's hands, we are the work of God's hands.
For example, in his prayer to God for Israel, Isaiah confesses that the nation is the work of God's hand.
• "But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand" (Is. 64:8).
Likewise, when we obey the gospel and become a Christian, baptized into Christ for the remission of sins, born again and becoming a new creature, we are molded by God (Jn. 3:3-8; 2 Cor. 5:17).
And how does God mold us and make us?
He changes us through His word.
• "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes . . ." (Rom. 1:16).
• "Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Pet. 1:22-23).
• ". . . the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe" (1 Th. 2:13).
The Clay is not Equal to the Potter
Since the potter makes the clay into whatever he wants, he's superior to the clay.
So as the potter, God is superior to man (Is. 55:8-9).
Therefore, we should humble ourselves before God and submit to His will, as Jeremiah points out when warning the inhabitants of Jerusalem regarding their sin.
• "Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, 'He did not make me'; or what is formed say to him who formed it, He has no understanding'?" (Is. 29:16).
And since God is greater than us, He makes us into whatever He wants, and we serve at His good pleasure.
• "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).
Woe to the One Who Complains Against God
We have no right to complain against God, just as clay has no right to complain against the potter who made it and formed it.
Paul explains this in Romans, showing that we have no right to complain.
• "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?" (Rom. 9:20-21).
So, we are warned not to complain against God.
Israel angered God by grumbling in the wilderness.
• "Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp" (Num. 11:1).
And Isaiah warned Israel not to complain.
• "Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker -- an earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the potter, 'What are you doing?' or the thing you are making say, 'He has no hands'?" (Is. 45:9).
And like Israel, we are warned not to complain.
• "Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer" (1 Cor. 10:9-10).
• "Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:14-15).
Conclusion
God is the potter, and He gives us the right to choose whether we'll be molded by His word.
Are you clay in God's hands?
If you are, you're the work of God's hands, and He's using you in the kingdom according to His good pleasure.
THE TEACUP STORY
May we all see ourselves and God's creative mastery in this teacup story. This is a wonderful inspirational story to go along with the Bible story of the potter and the clay found in Jeremiah 18.
There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.
One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful cup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the cup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'let me alone,' but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'
"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the cup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'
"Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat!" the teacup said. "I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'
"Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'
"Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening, nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'
"Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.
One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'
"'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up.
I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.
I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life.
And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held.
Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"
This teacup story illustrates what Jeremiah wrote by the inspiration of God:
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I shall announce My words to you." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:1-6
Moral of the Teacup Story:
God knows what He's doing (for all of us).
He is the Potter, and we are His clay.
He will mold us and make us,
so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work
to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
May the teacup story become our story as we willingly yield to our Potter's hand.
MY PRAYER:
“I pray that we make sure that when we do profess Jesus Christ as God's Son and salvation is found only in Him. It must, however, be our responsibility to personally dig into God's Word and allow the Holy Spirit to be our first and final teacher on all subjects.”
I learned the hard way that nobody is perfect, we hurt ourselves if we keep looking on perfect people around us, we need to understand that everyone has its own weaknesses and is bound to make mistakes. We need to learn how to understand and forgive others the same way we wanted others to understand us also and learn to forgive us for offending others. NOBODY IS PERFECT, I AM NOT PERFECT, THEY ARE NOT PERFECT...ONLY GOD IS PERFECT - And He forgive us always for our imperfection....
