Isaiah 64:8-9 - Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your
hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins
forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.
Isaiah was praying fervently for his usual request
to God. He was asking God to reveal
himself to the people that were struggling…to send some portion of himself to
give them hope. He knew that if God came down in his fullness…that no one would
be able to look upon him…his glory would be so great that the mountains would
quake…and the oceans might boil dry.
So in Isaiah’s great wisdom…he reminds God’s
that he is a great artist….with a messed up lump of clay. Sin had so blemished the people….and they
were just a small piece of clay in the hands of the greatest potter who ever
tried to form a useable vessel from something that needed to be thrown away.
If you have never watched this process…I
put a you clip link at the end…it is quite eye opening….and has the great
HIllsong version of The Potters Hand to listen to as well. Sorry about that silly commercial that
sponsored it. It shows a village man
using a manual potter’s wheel to change a lump of raw clay into a useable
object of beauty.
God does that with us. He takes our raw lives….blemished with sin
and bad choices. He puts us on an uncomfortable wheel that turns us so fast we
don’t even realize he is making us into something new. It may even hurt physically sometimes…but
that doesn’t last forever. Slowly….very slowly at times…he forms that mess we made
into something that he can use.
The thing is…we still look the same in the
mirror….the changes were all made on the inside. We might have a brighter smile…a
more content countenance….or a more positive attitude. And the changes he made
inside us will definitely be noticed by the ones around us. We will want to leave behind the old lives we
had built for ourselves….and stretch our understanding of why God put us here
in the first place.
One last thought….God can’t work on us if
we don’t stay on the potter’s wheel. I
sure am guilty of jumping off when the changes got too uncomfortable…or too…”outside
my thoughts” of what faith really required of me. It is kinda like those round
rides at the fairs and theme parks…they make me dizzy and unbalanced. But when they stop…and I can set my feet back
on solid ground….the world stops spinning…..and I can focus on walking forward
again.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I
need to stay on your great wheel….so you can finish the vessel you are trying to
make out of my mess. Forgive me for all
the times that I have tried to manipulate the wheel…even try to be the
potter. Help me to remember that staying
on the wheel is my job….and turning it and molding me into what you want is
yours. Give me the faith and the wisdom
and the courage to never leave the wheel again…so you can help me become what
you eed me to be. Amen.
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