The Potter

Have you ever tried to tell God how His plan for you or your loved ones is wrong? 

Maybe you’re like me, and He has called you to a task, given you an assignment or made it clear what your job needs to be, and you have enumerated ALL the numerous reasons why you can’t step up to the plate.  Maybe you feel inadequate; maybe the task involves giving up too much of your precious time; maybe you can’t see yourself in the role he’s called you to or maybe you just plain don’t want to.  You’re not just a reluctant child and disobedient child, but you have an attitude as well.

All I can say is I’ve been there, friend.  You’re not alone.

Throughout the Bible, we as humans are compared to clay.  When using this analogy, the Bible refers to God as The Potter.  At random, The Potter may decide to start all over with his masterpiece (us) and “crush” his creation and begin again.  But in many verses, it states that the clay tries to tell The Potter, God, what to do and how to do it.

Isaiah 29:16 in The Message version states it like this.  “Doom to you!  You pretend to have the inside track.  You shut God out and work behind the scenes, plotting the future as if you knew everything, acting mysterious, never showing your hand.  You have everything backward!  You treat the potter as a lump of clay.  Does a book say to its author, ‘He didn’t write a word of me?’  Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it, ‘She had nothing to do with me?’”

Pretty stark, heh?  But haven’t you been there?  I have; I’ve tried to tell God a thing or two and thought I knew better than Him at times.  I’ve done this with my own life.  I’ve certainly done it in marriage with my hubby.  And I’ve especially done it from a parent’s perspective…I’ve tried to tell God what I think is best for our adult son, Nathan.  Are you with me?

When I was a little girl and teenager in church, I remember singing the hymn, “Have Thine Own Way”.  Very seldom do you hear this lovely hymn much in churches today.

But the words are etched in my mind and heart.

“Have thine own way, Lord,

Have thine own way.  Thou are the potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me

After thy will,

While I am waiting, Yielded and still.”

Some of the lines that stand out to me are about the potter and the clay.  Is it absurd to think of the clay telling the potter what to do and how to move His hands and what shape to make?  It truly is!  This one analogy shows our proper place in the scheme of things.  God is so much bigger, wiser and more sovereign than we can imagine.  We are truly clay in His hands.  But yet, He has so designed us that the God of the Universe gives us the choice, whether or not we allow Him to shape, construct, crush, sculpt and use us for His glory.

The next verb that stands out to me is MOLD.  Are you moldable?  Is your heart and spirit teachable so that you can be still and listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling you to do…and then you YIELD to His request.

Or are you like the driver at the yield sign or round-a-bout that barrels through with no regard for anyone else?  Is it your way or the highway, so to speak?

What do you need to relinquish control of or surrender to the Potter to let Him be able to shape and mold you?

Are you allowing Him to Have His Own Way in your life?  It’s a continual process, isn’t it?  Just when I think I’ve arrived, and that I’ve turned the corner, God shows me how far I truly am from total surrender.

Will you bow your knee today and allow The Potter to shape and pattern you into His image?  Will you allow Him to shave off the rough edges and put you in vulnerable places or “crush” you so you can be “rebuilt” into the image of Jesus?

All I know is when I think back over my life, the moments that truly stand out and are memorable and most significant and meaningful are the ones when I’ve truly allowed myself to undergo the “shaping of The Potter”.  When I’ve allowed God to “have His own way” in my life, that’s when He blows my socks off and shows me what it truly means to have “abundant life”.

Years ago, God called me to Liberia, West Africa.  At first, I thought He was calling me to go as a full-time missionary.  He didn’t…obviously.  But the point is I went through the struggle to get to the place of complete and total surrender.

After months of dreaming about black babies, after praying tirelessly to the Lord and seeking His will, after getting 10 shots (yes, I said 10!) with my girlfriend who was supposed to go (and had initially contacted me), I finally got peace after talking with my former youth pastor, Larry Lawrence.  Larry, who is and always will be a spiritual giant, listened to what God had taken me through for many months to prepare me.  But Larry’s wise counsel struck a nerve when he said, “Maybe God isn’t calling you to go to Africa full-time, but He wants to get you to the point where you would be willing to go if He did.”  It was a huge turning point for me.  Larry nailed it!  That was exactly it.  Even though God didn’t call me to be a full-time missionary (and I didn’t know all of that at the time), He had to get me to the point where I was wiling to say “yes” if He had asked me to go and give up everything. I finally bowed my knee and said, “Yes, Lord, if you want me to go to Africa and live that far away from family and friends, I’m willing to do that.  I will give up my teaching career; I will give up my life; I will give up the vision I had of my life.  I will do all of that and more to serve you and be a witness for you.”

I ended up going for only 2 weeks. It wasn’t for life or a full-time “call”.  But I didn’t know that at the time.  The point was…He got me to the point of surrender.  It’s there I want to live daily.

It was an unforgettable experience that I carry with me.  It truly changed my perspective, and my life.  But it started with submission.  It began with letting the Potter be in control.  Weeks prior, as the Lord was dealing with me, it began with singing the song, “Have Thine Own Way”, but it culminated with singing the hymn “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go” in church on a Sunday night.  While in Africa, God showed me what was possible when I let HIM control my life vs ME telling Him what was possible and what I was willing to do.  It works so much better when The Potter shapes the clay vs the clay trying to tell The Potter what’s best.

Does any of this resonate with you?

It’s been 30+ years since I traveled to Africa as a short-term volunteer.  But this I know.  At times, I still struggle with allowing God to truly be My Potter.  It’s something I pray about all the time.  But my desire is to be that piece of clay that is moldable, shapeable and willing to be open, vulnerable and obedient to The Potter’s hands and will for my life.

Isn’t it what the Christian life is all about it? 

I pray as you read this YOU submit and surrender to The Potter.  It’s the only way to truly live!  Our pastor, Dennis Watson, says quite frequently, “Who is more inclined to make a mess of your life, you or God?”  I remind myself and you, my friend, to let The Potter take control.  Picture yourself as clay…limp, lifeless and without purpose until The Potter picks you up and turns you into His masterpiece.  Without the yielding, we are just like unbelievers, living for self and striving for the things that don’t matter in this world. 

More on The Potter and clay in a future post.