ON THE POTTER'S WHEEL

“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 he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him.” Jeremiah 18:1-4

We are all in the hands of some potter. Something is forming the shape of us all. Hopefully we have chosen to entrust ourselves into the hands of the One True Potter, our Creator, who alone knows what we were meant to be.

And if indeed He is our Potter in the truest sense of the word, He not only wants to mold us externally—that would be our circumstances, our talents, all our raw material, the way our lives look on the outside to others—He wants to fill us up with Himself so that all we look like, all we do, is purely motivated by and is all about glorifying Him.

But the shape and condition of the inside of these vessels influences how much of God we can contain. Maybe—even though no one may be able to see it from the outside—there might not be enough room inside for His Spirit.

It could be that instead of being an adequate receptacle for Him, we are clogged up with calcium deposits—hard places—so that we are no longer tender and vulnerable and approachable.

Or maybe we are filled with decaying, rotting debris—bitter grudges, festering unforgiveness— which might us to be broken and our insides exposed so that the Potter can file away all this stuff and reshape us according to His vision for us.

Rough calluses might need to be smoothed; offending, impeding debris might need to be chipped away.

Diligent students of the Word, does something hauntingly familiar spring to mind here, speaking of the need for something to be cut away? Hopefully it is this, from Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Yes, studying the scriptures can help us with all of this painful surgery we might so desperately need. Verse 13 and following go on to say that “Nothing is all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

We are an open book to God, for sure, but whether or not He is allowed to use the scalpel of His Word to do the surgery on us is our call. He will not force that upon us.

He does, however, do much to encourage us to let Him. The Hebrews writer hastens to remind us of this wonderful truth: Jesus our High Priest has experienced this very life we live here on this very earth. And He has now gone before us to the heavenlies so that we can approach the throne of God with confidence and receive mercy and grace in our times of need.