Trusting the Potter

God has graciously provided us with many illustrations, oftentimes with simplicity, to teach us great spiritual truths. I have spent much time this week considering that of the Potter and the clay. The relationship between the Potter and the clay is first referenced in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 29. There we read, "You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?" Later, in  Isaiah, chapter 45, the prophet makes reference to this "potter" as one's "Maker", writing, “Woe to  the one  who quarrels with his Maker— An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth! Will the clay say to the  potter , ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making  say , ‘He has no hands’?"  And near the end of the Book, Isaiah refers to the "Lord" and "Father" as the "potter", writing in chapter 64, " But now, O  Lord , You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our  potter ;  And  all of us are the work of Your hand."

Jeremiah also writes of the Lord in the role of the "potter'', writing in chapter 18, "Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the. wheel But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."

In addition to speaking of the Lord as the "potter", both Isaiah and Jeremiah speak of the inherent right and authority of the potter over the clay. Although we are not inanimate objects like actual clay, the principle is nonetheless true and one that we should find peace in and not strive or struggle against. There will be times that we are tempted to speak to the Potter, forgetting who we are and who He is, but He remains the Potter and we the clay. And as the Potter, He retains His inherent right over the clay.

 

As you might guess, my favorite reference to God as the potter is made by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9. In verses 20-22, clearly aware of the words written by Isaiah and Jeremiah and their truths, Paul wrote, "On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" Of course, this follows the discussion in the passage revolving around the choices and decisions of God and man's tendency to question whether or not there is justice in them. We often struggle with statements like those recorded in Romans 9 where the apostle reminds the readers of God's words to Moses, when He had said, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." We are so prone to feel that God's mercy and compassion must somehow be bestowed on an individual who has somehow earned them and not simply because He has determined to exercise His sovereign will to do so.   

Although I have long had great appreciation for the truths spoken of in Romans 9, especially verses 6-33, it was only a few days ago that I recalled (by God's grace) the apostle's sorrow and grieving heart that we see in the chapter's beginning. In the first three verses Paul had shared his heart, writing, " I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh". The passage provides us a glimpse into the heart of the apostle as he shares his grief regarding those "separated from Christ", specifically, his "brethren" and "kinsmen according to the flesh". His desire for the Israelites to know that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God" was great. He even speaks of his apparent willingness to exchange his position in Christ with theirs if such a thing were possible. Not that his sorrow and grief vanished as he wrote, but God clearly directs the apostle to both personally dwell on and write of the sovereignty of God as a means to rightly deal with the "great sorrow and unceasing grief" in his heart. At the end of the day, Paul would find his peace in the only place peace can be found, trusting the Potter with the clay. As we experience sorrow and grief for those who do not know the Savior, may we also find peace as we endeavor to trust the Potter while serving Him!