The Master Potter

“House of Israel, can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord? Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel!” Jeremiah 18:6

I am not skilled at all when it comes to art made with hands. I cannot paint, and any work in clay ends up resembling the science fiction creature known as “The Blob”. But I have watched at potter at the wheel, and it is amazing to see a simple lump of brownish-gray clay slowly take shape into a useful vessel in his hands.

God uses this image to speak to Israel and those who follow Christ, by extension. He wants them to see how closely He is working in them. He is not a God afar off simply watching the world’s events unfolding, giving occasional commands to an angel here and there to act. His hands mudded with their own substance.

He wants them to know His authority. There is no question of the clay speaking up from the wheel and saying, “Excuse me, I expect you to make me into a water pitcher. If you make me anything but a water pitcher, you should know I will refuse to function how you made me.” Yet, we seem to want to tell God that very thing. He can do whatever He wants in our life; that is, if it lines up with what we want to do.

Israel had forgotten that when God chooses to fashion something of the clay, He has a specific purpose in mind. And, His purposes include two of His characteristics. His purposes are always good and always loving.

As a master Potter, God wants to fashion our lives into something good. As we submit to His personal work, we will discover our lives have value. Functioning as that “water pitcher”, we find purpose in providing refreshment to the thirsty, or cooling comfort on the feet of those weary from the way. God knows what He is doing while guiding our through our lives.

He also fashions us with love. The Scripture says we have this “treasure in jars of clay.” His purposes for us are always about our best. Sometimes, in our pain or person struggles, we are so short-sighted, we miss the fact that He is lovingly fashioning shaping us. As described earlier, His own fingers touch the lives we lead. And, when the way seems dark, or too difficult to navigate, remembering He is personally using these experience to bring us through better than before can encourage us to lift up our heads and be comforted.

God has every right to make anything of our lives that He desires. That is the primary point the prophet wants us to hear. If we were not certain of God’s goodness and love, we might be frightened at a God who claims all rights over our lives as a potter does over immobile clay. But the rest of the story is, in His ownership, He gives us free rights to go along with His divine process of creating something beautiful, or to try to go it alone.

If only we would remember that God’s ways are best, His love is far beyond our understanding, His goodness rivals anything we can come up with on our own, then we would be more ready to submit to the potter’s wheel. In the same passage, it is written, “but the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him.”

God does not leave us flawed. He takes us, flaws and all, and shapes us into something beautiful. I remember seeing a program about a couple who bought an old factory to refurbish into a home. The wood flooring was stained deeply with the years of oil and boots of workers. They were told it would take weeks to sand the floors down past all the flaws. Instead, the couple said to leave the flaws as they are. Once finished the beautiful wood floors have a rich character that perfect veneer could never convey.

Don’t tell God you are useless, He is the Master Potter. Don’t be afraid, He is only working in your life for good. Most of all, go to Him with a completely open attitude, for His desire is to shape your life into something that reflects His great heart of love.