In the Hands of the Potter

Last weekend, I went to palm springs with my church to go hear a woman speak about Jesus while she molded pots of clay. Yes, she was literally sitting there crafting vases and bowls on a pottery wheel while talking to a group of 200 people at the same time. The point was to illustrate how Jesus is the potter that molds us as we follow him.

It was basically one of the coolest things I have ever seen. There's something about throwing pottery that is so beautiful and mesmerizing...and at first that's all I could pay attention to.

But then, as I began to let the words of the speaker sink in and speak to my soul, I found I was even more mesmerized by what Jesus was trying to speak to me that day.

The metaphor was powerful, probably because well, its taken straight from the word. In many places in the bible, God is compared to a potter and we are compared to the clay in his hands. "Yet, O Lord, we are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." -Isaiah 64:8

The talk started off harmless, with the speaker relating her story of how she came to follow Jesus and how she found a love for pottery throwing. She's a great story teller and she knew how to capture her hearer's interest.

But then, maybe halfway through her first talk, she started to lay down some hard truths as she expanded on the metaphor of the clay.

We are the clay in the hands of the potter. We are nothing but dust. And without Jesus' hands to mold us and shape us, we remain just a lump of clay. We will sit on that wheel and remain formless until we allow Jesus to give us shape. While the speaker began to form the clay, she explained the process of making a vessel:

The first thing you must do when you make pottery is take out the clay and knead it until it is soft. Then, you throw it on the wheel (hence the name pottery throwing) and center the clay. If the clay is not centered on the wheel, the vessel will come out awkward and lopsided. She compared this to our lives with God. When we are not centered on him, whatever work he is trying to do in us will be inhibited and unbalanced. It's only when He's at the center that we can be made into something beautiful and usable.

Then, once the clay is centered, the next thing is to place your thumbs into the clay to open it up into a bowl. Likewise, with us, if we desire for God to shape us, we have to open ourselves up to the work he wants to do in us, instead of remaining a stubborn lump that is afraid of how God might change us by changing things in and around us: our jobs, our relationships, our sources of comfort, our character, etc. "What is clay full of before it gets opened up?" the speaker asked us. As we looked at each other confused, she finally replied, "...Itself." Heh...ouch.

The next step is to stretch the clay upwards so that it can take its shape. Without stretching the clay out, the potter has nothing to work with to give the vessel form. Kind of an obvious parallel, but this was the stretching in the areas of our lives that God needed to do in order to make us into what he has purposed for us. As the clay reaches the end point of stretching, it remains stable and begins to take its form.

Then, once the pot is crafted, it is placed into the kiln and fired. If the pot is not fired, it is not usable. If you pour water into it before it is fired, the water will simply absorb into the clay. If the pot is knocked over, it will lose its shape. If you try to paint the vessel and it gets wet, the paint will run. So the fire is essential to making the vessel durable, usable and beautiful. But the fire is white hot and the vessel must be placed in the kiln for an extended period of time. If the pot is taken out even two minutes before it is supposed to, it can crack or burst. I did not like this part of the analogy. But I knew this is what God wanted to speak to me. If we don't go through the fire, God cannot use us in the way he designed. The fire is preparation to become something beautiful and capable of being used for good purposes. We have to remain in the fire until the work is finished, until God has accomplished in us the things that were necessary to make us what he has called us to be. If we pull out of the fire too quickly, we can't be used the way God wanted. We will end up cracked and bruised. The finest clay materials also happen to require the longest firing. When we see people who so clearly reflect the image of Jesus in the person they have become, we say we want to be like that. But, as the speaker notes, we need to first realize what we're asking by recognizing what it took for them to get that way. Many of these people have been through the longest and hottest of fires to become what they are now.

As the speaker continued, she talked about our lack of trust in Jesus as our potter. When we get on the wheel and ask God to mold us, we already have our own idea of what shape should take form. We tell Jesus, "Make me into a vase. I think that would be the best thing for me to be." But Jesus looks down at the lump of clay on his wheel and says, "Don't worry little clay, I already have it all mapped out. I am going to make you into a bowl! How does that sound?" We retort back, "A bowl, no no no. I want to be a vase. What can a bowl do anyway? It doesn't get placed on tables of honor or hold flowers. Its too wide to sit on a mantle. I don't want to be a bowl. Make me into a vase please."Jesus places his hands on us and says, "Don't worry little clay. I know what I'm doing. You need to trust me. I know exactly what you're going to look like and its going to be wonderful. You are going to make a wonderful bowl." "Fine" we say, "but I am NOT happy about this."

We are clay and Jesus is the potter. It's only when we surrender our own plans and hopes of what we want to become that Jesus is able to form us into the vessel he has already purposed us to become. Surrender is not easy, but when we give up the control and allow God's hands to move us and shape us, we do become something beautiful and able to be used for God's will. At the root of it, its a question of whether we trust that God is a master at his work. That he know's what he's doing.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11

As long as we struggle and put our hands out to bat at the hands of God and cry "Stop it stop it what are you doing to me?", God is unable to do the work he planned to do. We remain a lump of clay until we finally give in and give up control over to the one who is able to make us into something wonderful.

"Woe to 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'? Woe to him who says to his father, 'What have you begotten?' or to his mother, 'What have you brought to birth?' This is what the Lord says--the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts." -Isaiah 45:9-12

I know in many ways I want to resist how God is trying to mold me in his hands. I'm ready to jump out of that kiln and blow out the fire. But I know if I do, I may end up a splat on the floor instead of a beautiful work of art.

I want to be the precious, ivory vessel God is trying to make me into. But it requires me to be open, to surrender to God's plan, relinquish control of my future, and trust in his workmanship. To rejoice in the fire because I know I am being made to last and to be used for his will. But it is so damn hard. This little lump of clay is full of herself and needs to open up. God, form me with your gentle hands.

Because I am just clay, and you are the masterful potter. Help me to trust that.