"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter,
we are all the work of your hand."
(Isaiah 64:8)
This concept of the potter and the clay being a picture of our relationship to God has been on my mind the past couple weeks. I grew up knowing this illustration -- singing about it in church, learning about it in Sunday School, and seeing stacks of artwork of it. Honestly, I heard about it so much that I grew annoyed with it. I always heard it in relation to the main message of Psalm 139, about being beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image. But I'm starting to see that being the clay in the potter's hand is not all about beauty being formed -- it's pain, too.
I've been doing a Bible study with a group of girls this semester called "Identity: Becoming Who God Says I Am." Yes, it has a cliche title. Yes, it has extremely cheesy pictures inside that make me feel like a high schooler again. But there is depth in this study where you want it to be, and it gives you elbow room to meet God where you need to meet Him at the time.
Chapter one focused on God's essence and what's good about Him. Chapter two focused on what's positive about us. Amidst the lists of what's wrong about us -- our weaknesses, insecurities, struggles -- and what's good about us -- our strengths, abilities, roles -- we explored what it means to be defined by God and nothing else, what it means to be on the potter's wheel in the hands of our Maker.
It's Pain
It's Pain
My dear friend, Hannah Meier, a sophomore at CSU, took a pottery class once. With that experience, she described the relationship of the potter and the clay in this way:
"You have to stick your thumb down in the middle of the clay to make a hole, but the clay doesn't know that -- it just knows that it's wet, and it hurts. But the hole becomes the essence... a pot without a hole is just a lump of clay."
There are tough situations in our lives where we don't understand what's going on, why God allows us to experience such pain. But those are the times where God is growing us, forming us from this lump of clay into the man or woman He desires us to be.
It's Humility
Acknowledging that we are mere clay in His hands is not just pain; it's also humbling.
"There's definitely a sense of humility knowing that the control is in someone else's hands," said Jenny Jessup, a junior at CSU. "And yet, the control is trustworthy. It's solid. He knows the final product, and it's good. There's humility because you can't control your life that way, you can't control how you look or how you're seen by people. You were made perfect in the way He made you.
"I think that sense of control gives you a sense of peace just knowing that you don't have to be in control of your life and you don't have to fear as well 'cause the potter has everything under control."
It's Beauty
This concept of the potter and the clay was revisited this past week as chapter six talked about our new identity in Christ, who God says we are, and how the different relationships we have with Him define us, such as shepherd and sheep, father and child, potter and clay.
Pots can have a variety of purposes -- they can hold plants, carry water, store things, decorate a house, be put on display, serve as a canvas for further artistic expression... These uses can be summarized into two purposes: use and beauty.
As God forms us into the man or woman He imagined us to be, He gives us purpose -- He makes us useful to Him, and He makes us oh-so-beautiful.
Our Role as the Clay, and the Potter's Sovereignty
A lot of people miss the point of this relationship. As my friend Shannon Ludington, a senior at CSU, said, "It's one of those metaphors where people say, 'Oh, God is molding you, so you don't have to do anything about it; you can just sit there and let God shape you.'"
"You have to stick your thumb down in the middle of the clay to make a hole, but the clay doesn't know that -- it just knows that it's wet, and it hurts. But the hole becomes the essence... a pot without a hole is just a lump of clay."
There are tough situations in our lives where we don't understand what's going on, why God allows us to experience such pain. But those are the times where God is growing us, forming us from this lump of clay into the man or woman He desires us to be.
It's Humility
Acknowledging that we are mere clay in His hands is not just pain; it's also humbling.
“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?’
--Isaiah 45:9-10
"There's definitely a sense of humility knowing that the control is in someone else's hands," said Jenny Jessup, a junior at CSU. "And yet, the control is trustworthy. It's solid. He knows the final product, and it's good. There's humility because you can't control your life that way, you can't control how you look or how you're seen by people. You were made perfect in the way He made you.
"I think that sense of control gives you a sense of peace just knowing that you don't have to be in control of your life and you don't have to fear as well 'cause the potter has everything under control."
It's Beauty
This concept of the potter and the clay was revisited this past week as chapter six talked about our new identity in Christ, who God says we are, and how the different relationships we have with Him define us, such as shepherd and sheep, father and child, potter and clay.
Pots can have a variety of purposes -- they can hold plants, carry water, store things, decorate a house, be put on display, serve as a canvas for further artistic expression... These uses can be summarized into two purposes: use and beauty.
As God forms us into the man or woman He imagined us to be, He gives us purpose -- He makes us useful to Him, and He makes us oh-so-beautiful.
Our Role as the Clay, and the Potter's Sovereignty
A lot of people miss the point of this relationship. As my friend Shannon Ludington, a senior at CSU, said, "It's one of those metaphors where people say, 'Oh, God is molding you, so you don't have to do anything about it; you can just sit there and let God shape you.'"
I agree. It has become an overused metaphor that has seemingly lost its depth and application in our lives. But putting together these aspects of pain, humility and beauty, I'm beginning to see that being the clay in the potter's hands involves a two-way relationship.
"[The potter's] hands have to be firm," Hannah explained during Bible study at the beginning of this semester. "At first [he has] to be kind of violent with the clay, making it do whatever [he wants] it to do. And then, sometimes [he's] more gentle and let[s] the clay come to [his] hands, and [he works] with that."
There's a response involved when we as the clay choose to come to His hands. We are not without choice; we can be stubborn and choose to refuse His artful hands. But as Isaiah 45:9 says, who are we to say to Him he does not know what He is doing?
As the clay in the hands of the Potter, we have the responsibility to move toward His hands, embrace the pain, take on humility, and watch as beauty is formed in us.
"[The potter's] hands have to be firm," Hannah explained during Bible study at the beginning of this semester. "At first [he has] to be kind of violent with the clay, making it do whatever [he wants] it to do. And then, sometimes [he's] more gentle and let[s] the clay come to [his] hands, and [he works] with that."
There's a response involved when we as the clay choose to come to His hands. We are not without choice; we can be stubborn and choose to refuse His artful hands. But as Isaiah 45:9 says, who are we to say to Him he does not know what He is doing?
As the clay in the hands of the Potter, we have the responsibility to move toward His hands, embrace the pain, take on humility, and watch as beauty is formed in us.
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