The Potter and the Clay

Have you prayed that the Lord would mold you, shape you, create from you a vessel fit for His use? Have you given Him your life and asked Him to use it for His glory? Are you confident that His is able to change you? Than I ask this question - if we are the clay and God is the potter ........ what are His tools?

We can't see physical tools. Could it be that the circumstances around us are the tools He uses to shape us? Could it be that the very things in our lives that we want so much to be free of - are instruments that will ultimately affect change?

Perhaps your family with all their needs is the potter's wheel - pulling you in as many directions as you can go - and yet love (the Potter's hands) - keeps you from tearing apart. The water of the Word keeps you soft - preventing brittleness and hardness of heart.

Perhaps the pressure of doing for others is the oven that sets the molded clay in its new shape. Sometimes it feels like you will crumble under the intensity of it - an then - the oven door opens. You are placed in the cool, refreshing peace and comfort of His Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the paint and the brush are the traffic jams, the burned dinners, the failed projects. The red of anger, the blue of disappointment, the green of unfulfilled dreams, the yellow of hesitation, the orange of missed opportunity, the brown of broken promises and the black of self doubt.

Perhaps the second trip to the oven that sets and changes the paint is your reaction to each circumstance - to each "opportunity" presented to you - "opportunity" for peace instead of anger - "opportunity" for perseverance instead of self pity - "opportunity" for determination instead of fear - "opportunity" for hope instead of despair - "opportunity" for forgiveness instead of taking offense - "opportunity" for confidence in Him instead of depression. When the oven door opens this time you are no longer "painted" with the drab and ugly colors of human responses and reactions - but - you display the beauty of the one who has created you. The paint, no longer the awful shades of self indulgence - but now the bright and beautiful colors displayed by the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. It is not just "on" you it is a part of you!

Just something to think about - there are many tools used by the Master Artist - look around you with a desire to see Him at work. Look at the circumstances around you with yielded desire to allow Him to accomplish His work in you quickly and easily. Don't concern yourself with the faults of others. Focus on being submitted to the change that He seeks to create in you. Before long - a vessel given over to the Master will display His character and be fit for His intended purpose.

[ Before I get email about trusting God to direct and guide us - and resting in Him - let me assure you that I totally agree with and believe that everything we do can and should be directed by Him. The question is are we completely yielded to His spirit - willing to be shaped and willing to change so that we can be used for His glory. ]

Isaiah 64:8
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Jeremiah 18:4
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.

2 Cor. 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.