Jeremiah 18:4b – So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Our lives are often like a hump of clay in the hands of the potter. The clay has the ability to become a useful and beautiful pot. But it has the opportunity to become what it ought to be only when it is ready to submit itself to the potter who is a master craftsman. There would have been resistance from the clay to allow the potter to make it what is should be. But such self centered resistances of the clay will end up in it being marred at the potter’s wheel. So the potter has to use his fingers to crush it and re-form and reshape it as he pleases. Unless the clay is willing to be reshaped, it would remain a hump of clay and will set itself hard and will loose its maneuverability. Our lives are like a hump of clay and our Master Potter is interested in making us what we ought to be for His glory. When we resist the maneuvering of His fingers on us, we would become something that He didn’t want us to be. Only when we submit ourselves to the Potter and allow His hands to work on us will we become a vessel that would bring honor to the Potter. Of course, it involves the crushing of our self. We will have to be willing to loose our original shape because that in itself is of no use to the Potter. But for the Potter to reshape us, we need to allow Him to work on as He sees fit and proper. The reshaping process involves considerable pain of kneading and mixing which hurts, but the hurt is for our good. The hurt will make us useful to the Potter and give honor and glory to Him. We need to praise Him for working on us and for not giving us up. We need to thank Him for all the experiences that He allows us to go through as He gives us a new look and usefulness. Unless we go through the furnace, we will not become a strong and firm pot in which our Heavenly Potter can collect living water to quench some thirsty souls around.
Dear friend, do you realize that you are a very fortunate person to be in the hands of the Lord who is the divine Potter? The Lord is interested in reshaping you so that He can make use of you for His glory and honor. But unless you go through the process of reshaping, He will not make you what you can become in and through His hands. If you find the pain of reshaping unbearable, the Lord will give you patience and grace to endure it. He will then help you to praise Him each time you feel His fingers working on you. Yes, it will hurt, but only through that hurt will you become a vessel for the Lord to use you in a mighty and glorious way. If you remain a hump of clay or a marred vessel, you will have no utility for the potter or for any one else. The Lord has a great plan for you and He wants to make you a unique vessel to carry His testimony around. But it all depends on your willingness and humility to allow Him to reshape you. When you reach the shape and the size that the Master Designer wants you to be, then you will have value in His kingdom and usefulness for Him and others. You will then be able to serve others for the sake of the Master Designer and meet certain needs. The Master’s fingers will bring to you the beauty which you will not have as a hump of clay. You don’t need to be concerned about your beauty or looks because the Master Potter will know how to change you dynamically so as to use you at present and in the future. When He finishes His work on you, it would end up in marvel and amazement because a few hours back you were only a hump of clay and no one would have had any hope about you. That ought to bring praise to the Lord because all that has happened to you is the result of His grace, patience and loving kindness to make you an honorable vessel for the pleasure of the Master Potter.
Jeremiah 18:6 – “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel”. Thought for TodayThe pain of reshaping is taken away by the prospect of usefulness for the Master Designer.
