Luke 9:23
“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9:23 NIV
This imagery is well known in the Bible. And it is a reminder to us today of what it means to trust in God, what it means to walk with God. It means to humble ourselves as clay in the hand of a potter. God, our creator who formed and fashioned us in the first place, who desires to continually form and fashion you and me according to His wisdom for the accomplishment of His good will in our lives.
For us to arise every morning and say, “Here I am, God. I am clay. You are the potter. Mold me. Make me. Do whatever you desire to do in my life, through my life, for the accomplishment of your purposes in my life. I totally trust in you.”
Through all the twists and turns of the rotating wheel as well as the heat of baking kiln, the artistry and skill of the potter was used to shape and mould and form and complete whatever vessel the potter in his wisdom chose to make. And if the clay in the hands of the potter was ruined in process, he would set to, to refashion it into another vessel, a good vessel, a vessel that seems right to him.
We are like that clay that has been taken up by our heavenly Potter to be fashioned and formed as He thinks best. The daily round of life and the common tasks we face seem to go around in circles, and the fires of affliction and pressures of life, at times, seem hard to bear.
But we are His children. We are the clay in the hands of our Father Who is shaping, moulding, forming, and completing us into the person He wants us to be a vessel fit for His use.
Sometimes we think we should be up and doing for the Lord if we are to become a useful vessel for Him. But the picture of the potter demonstrates that the vessel that stays patiently in the hands of our heavenly Potter, as He carries out His best purpose in our lives, is the one that will be formed and fashioned as is best for us.
But inevitably sometimes, as He turns us on the rotating wheel of life, His training can feel very unpleasant. Sometime as He squeezes us into the shape of His choice, it can become so uncomfortable. Sometimes, as we are being baked in the fiery kiln of life, the pressures we face become unbearable.
Whether it’s past mistakes or disappointments, or just places where we flat didn’t get it right, whether it’s new assignments that we are being prepared for, God is able to take all that we are and make something new out of it. Out of us. Notice He doesn’t eradicate all that we first were. We don’t lose our identity, the Potter uses the same piece of clay but does something entirely new with it.
There are times when we will find that we’re at a place where a new beginning is necessary. We may find ourselves at a place where we must start over. And especially in those times when our assignment has changed, we’ve got to let Him remold us for our new assignment.
We’ve got to be okay with the fact that nothing will look like what it once did. Lean into the remolding process and just let Him just reshape us. Let us trust ourselves into the hands of our heavenly Potter, for they were wounded for us. He will shape us and mould us, fashion us and form us into the vessel that is best pleasing to Him.
Father thank You for this day. And the truths in Your Word. Lord pour Your abundant blessings from the storehouses of heaven upon my friend and family today. Lord thank You that You are forming us into the person You want us to be. Lord help us to lie willingly in Your hands, for we trust You to form us into the vessel that You want us to be, to Your praise and Glory. Lord use my friend to be the blessing someone needs today. Be a blessing.
Father, we love You. Amen !
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