THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

I used to live in Mombasa a Coastal town in Kenya, and there was a gentleman who lived there, and he was a potter. He used to go down to the Tana River and dig his clay out of the river bank. He'd take it home. He'd wash it. He would get all the lumps and rocks and things out of it and make sure it was just right. Then he'd begin to work with it. He would put it on his home-made potter's wheel. He ran the potter's wheel with a little steam engine which I was very excited about. That little steam engine would just puff along and steadily turned that wheel at a pace slow enough to do his work and yet not fast enough, because of the centrifugal force, to throw it apart. So, it had to be just right.

It made me recall Jeremiah 18 in the Bible. Notice verse 1; “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "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 that 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 the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

The Potter takes the clay in His hands and molds it and fashions it according to His own will. He kneads it and works it. He tears it apart, and then presses it together. He wets it, and then dries it. He lets it lie for a while without touching it. When it is perfectly pliable, he continues the work of making it a vessel. He forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it. He dries it in the sun, and bakes it in the oven. Thus it becomes a vessel fit for use. So the great Master-worker desires to mould and fashion us. As the clay is in the hands of the potter, so are we to be in His hands. We are not to try to do the work of the potter. Our part is to yield ourselves to the molding of the Master-worker."

You should be thinking about our Potter who is none other than Jesus Christ. Because that's what Jesus does to us. We are the clay, and His hands are steady. His hands are gentle. And His hands get messy trying to fix our lives.

The job description of the clay is to surrender to the will of God. I feel like if you don't resist the hands of the Potter, you're going to be saved. That's my opinion. You're going to make it.

Isaiah 45:9 says, “Woe unto him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, "What are you making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands?" We don't complain at the Maker. He makes different things out of the clay. He is shaping us today. God is not only our Creator, He is the One who is currently continuing to shape us and mold us through the events of life.

Oh, what a wonderful experience that is! Imagine a lump of clay becoming a vessel in the kingdom of God, in His house, sitting on His shelf up in heaven glorifying Him; Made by Jesus. We are indeed the product of His handiwork, fashioned in His perfection, ready fit for His kingdom...!

Amen...Amen..!

Nang'