“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ” –Jeremiah 18:6
According to today’s Scripture, God deals with His people as a potter who molds clay. He takes His creative hands and wraps them around us with loving and forceful care. He pounds and molds and works us. He has a vision of a beautiful creation in mind. He shapes each one of us a son or daughter of the Kingdom. It’s true, clay sometimes isn’t as responsive as the potter would like it to be, but in His skilled hands, some new shape, new form, new beauty, new life will be the result.
We all wonder, “What’s happening to me?” during the trying or painful experiences of our lives. Did you ever consider that perhaps it is at that very moment that the shaping of the Potter is occurring in ways you could never understand or appreciate?
Pottery is only created as the clay is moldable in the hands of the craftsman that enables it to evolve from worthless earth to a thing of beauty. The beauty of the final creation is what the Potter has in mind as He shapes and molds.
God’s molding and shaping is an ongoing process. Don’t get too wrapped up in how it will take place in the future because there is enough shaping going on in your life today! The future of what God has in store for your life will be beautiful as you stay pliable in His loving hands. And remember, any hurt that accompanies God’s shaping process is for your good. Today, may your heart stay soft and open to The Potter’s work!
GOING DEEPER:
1. People in recovery groups say that we need to “let go and let God.” How do you need to let go and allow God to shape your life?
2. Ask God to help you to become more receptive to the beauty that He is creating as He shapes and molds you.
FURTHER READING:
Ephesians 2:10; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:7