“Still, God, you are our Father. We're the clay and you're our potter: All of us are what you made us.” Isaiah 64:8 (MSG)
When I think back on my early youth group years, I clearly remember a poster on the wall that said; “You are the potter, I am the clay”.
I may not remember much that I learned from my minister during that time, but I often think back to that youth room where I pondered what has become my life verse.
That verse was significant to me at the time, but it wasn’t until the last few years that I truly understood the depth of what it meant.
Can you visualize a potter sitting at his wheel, forming his piece? I can picture the wheel in my mind, as the clay spins and the potter using gentle strokes to form it in just the right way. The patience, time, and care that a potter puts into each piece represent the passion for his work. God does that with each of us too.
I love the way the Message translation says the last part of that verse; “all of us are what you made us.” God made you who you are. Don’t try to be someone you’re not, or what someone else wants you to be. He designed you to be unique with just the qualities He wanted you to have. God created each of us individually. His creativity is represented in everything we see. No two people are alike. Each flower, each snowflake; all different and unique, all created by God.
I did a little research on how a potter forms clay. Two pieces of clay can never be the same, just like we are all unique. Just like the potter forming and caring for each and every piece he creates. The potter will also rework a piece until it is just the way he wants. Jeremiah 18 speaks of a potter. Verse 4 says “the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.(ESV)” God has taken me back to the wheel many times. Sometimes I know that I need to spend time on the potter’s wheel.
Once the potter is happy with the piece he created, he puts it in a kiln. A kiln reaches extremely high temperatures.
Do you feel like you have been put through the fire? Sometimes a piece of pottery cracks in the kiln. How many times have you cracked under pressure? Probably more times than you care to admit.
But do you know that the potter can fill in those cracks? The potter doesn’t just throw away a piece that cracks. God can fill your cracks too if you allow Him to. God can take every hurt and fill you with His love. He can touch each of those places and restore those cracks and hurts. Will there be a scar, a flaw, a reminder? Maybe, but aren’t scars also a reminder of the healing that took place? Flaws can add beauty if we choose to look at them from a different perspective.
I have a large scar on my shoulder and upper arm from reconstructive surgery after I was burned as a teenager. When my daughter was about two years old, she asked me what it was from. I told her that my shirt had caught on fire and my scar was from the doctor repairing it. I don’t remember her exact words, but she made a profound statement about my scar being pretty. Pretty was the last thing I thought about when I thought about my scar. But my toddler’s perspective made me realize that it was a representation that God brought me through. When my shirt caught fire that night when I was 14 years old, it could have been so much worse. My flaw is part of my story, my testimony of what God has done in my life.
When a piece of pottery comes out of the kiln, it doesn’t necessarily look pretty. It isn’t complete until the potter once again uses his creative touch. The potter will paint and glaze his pieces to represent his work.
Beauty comes after we have been tested, or put through the fire, too. We may never forget the hurt and brokenness of going through the fire, but God can restore and bring beauty from pain.
Are you in the fire today? Just cling to God and His word. He will bring you through and give you a testimony on the other side. His word says that we are never alone. God goes before us. Deuteronomy 31:6 says He will never leave us or forsake us.
Maybe you’ve come through the fire and can’t see past the scars. Seek God for strength, He’s not done yet! Let Him gently form you, like the potter at his wheel, and He can restore the beauty within you.
Allow God to shape and mold you as he desires. Know that when trials come, you won’t face them alone. And know that there is beauty and a testimony on the other side.
Lord, Thank you for being with me through any trial I face. Thank you for the assurance that you can fix the broken places. I pray that you help me to look beyond my scars, my hurts, and my flaws. I pray that you help me to see them as a testimony of your work in my life. Help me, as I choose to cling to you, and praise you through the fire. Amen
This week, journal what God being the potter looks like in your life. Are you allowing Him to shape you? Have you given Him that control, or do you need to let go?
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