"We are the clay, and Thou our potter; and we shall be the work of Thy hand."
Isaiah 64:8
What can you do with a hardened heart? A hardened heart cost Pharaoh his kingdom in the days of Moses. It kept the Jews from following their long-awaited Messiah. However, Jesus' disciples were molded and shaped into powerful spokesmen because they were pliable in His hands. The Lord patiently shaped them as a potter might fashion a lump of clay into a vessel of beauty, righteousness, and usefulness. When our hearts are easy to mold, God can do great things through us!
Our lovely song, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord," is one of my all-time favorites. Our beautiful song speaks of the relationship between the clay (ourselves) and God the Potter.
"Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" (Romans 9:21)
Isn't it amazing what God can do through us if our heart is pliable! We have the hope of being molded into what He wants us to be and not stuck in our old ways of living, the unrefined old man of sin. Our God does the refining, molding, and reshaping. This process of metamorphosis or transformation can only be accomplished through His Word. God's Word can pierce our soul and spirit and judge our hearts' thoughts and intentions. Our Master Potter can take us as a lump of clay and change us into something beautiful and new. However, the "clay" must humble themselves, be willing to yield and realize that God can transform them into the likeness of Christ as they submit to Him, the Potter. The Potter has the power to fix and mend us. The clay must be humble enough to see themselves as broken vessels needing the Master Potter to fix them.
"Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:13-18)
The clay must humbly look to God to cleanse them from sin.
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear[a] my words.' 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’ 12 'But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.''" (Jeremiah 18:1-12)
The Potter can cleanse the clay from impurities (sin) when the clay humbly bows before Him in complete submission (Phil 2:20). The clay must allow the Potter to rule their hearts. A heart that is willing to yield, be molded, and shaped by the Master Potter is exemplified by the plea, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord."
In Jeremiah 18:1-3, God is pictured as the Potter and man as the clay. God commanded the prophet Jeremiah to go to the house of a potter (Jeremiah 18:1-12). By Jeremiah going to the potter's house, he would hear the message that God would give him and also have it illustrated before him. God uses physical things, common things, to illustrate and convey His message as in this case. The prophet Jeremiah goes to the potter's house and notices that the potter is making something at the wheel. As Jeremiah was watching the potter working at the wheel, he noticed that the vessel made of clay was marred or ruined in the hand of the potter. The vessel was not suitable. It could not be used for the purpose it was intended. So, Jeremiah watched as the potter carefully took the clay and began remolding it in his hands to form a vessel that would be useful and suitable for its intended purpose.
In His mercy, our Lord and Savior looks for humble souls that will allow Him to shape and mold them into instruments of righteousness. God can mold us into whatever instruments of service that He and the Body of Christ need and require. As clay in the hands of our Potter, our Father, we are totally pliable to our Creator's will, subject to his acts of creation, desiring to be the product of a great Creator.
God is the Potter who shapes and molds.
God is in control and knows what He is making. Indeed, God can make something useful and suitable for His purpose. He doesn't toss the clay, but rather He remolds it. And just as the potter in Jeremiah patiently began remolding the clay, our God is doing the same with us, the clay. We are clay in the hands of a mighty God. God, the Potter, knows what kind of vessel He intends for us to be. The Master Potter wants useful and suitable vessels for His service. Thus, we must allow the Potter to mold us to His glory (Isaiah 64:8).
The clay must be soft and pliable, willing to develop and thrive in the potter's hands.
However, when the clay begins to harden, it cannot develop properly, the way the Potter needs it to be to continue working on us. How wonderful it is that the Potter is willing to shape us and reshape us if we humbly allow Him to have His own way with us!! Our God wants to reform the clay to be fit and useful for Him. We are the work of the Potter's mighty hands!
How wonderful it is that our Master Potter will not throw away the marred clay, but He will continue to make the clay that is soft and pliable into a suitable and acceptable vessel!
- Are you willing to become that servant, be humble, and meet the needs within the Body of Christ as clay?
- Are you willing to become that servant when our Lord needs zeal and enthusiasm?
- Will you allow the Master Potter to make you and mold you into what He wants you to be?
- Will you allow God, the Master Potter, to make you and mold you into a vessel of honor, useful to Him and prepared for every good work? (2 Timothy 2:20-22).
- Or will you prefer to remain as vessels of dishonor, comfortable in their marred state of selfishness and sinfulness?
And though the process of being shaped and molded is not an easy task, the Master Potter is willing to make a beautiful masterpiece of the clay, though it will take time and effort. However, God, the Potter, is willing to do it. Are you?
"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 18:6)
May we humbly allow our Master to have His own way with us, the clay. May we, the clay, allow Him to mold and refine us into vessels of righteousness. May we be submissive, pliable, and moldable clay in the mighty hands of our Mater Potter.
I hope the lovely words of our beautiful song, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord," stir your soul the way it does mine.
Have Thine own way, Lord
Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting yielded and still
Have Thine own way, Lord
Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master today!
Whiter than snow Lord wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, Help me, I pray!
Power, all power, Surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord
Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Filled with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only always living in me.
Luci