As Clay in the Potter’s Hand

As Clay in the Potter’s Hand

“‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the Lord. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’”

God worked to mold Israel in His hand. He had to remove the hard lumps to be able to mold the vessel according to His will. It was not enough to be in God’s hand; one had to be willing to be pliable and willing to be molded; otherwise He could not put the clay on the potter’s wheel to make a vessel out of it.

God works in the same way today. The hard lumps have to be removed: for example, stiffness, stubbornness, contention, conceit, arrogance, and many other things that make it impossible for God to accomplish His work in the believer.

You hear statements like, “That’s how I am,” or “That’s how I see it,”—and so they stick to their opinion. This is reminiscent of what it says in the letter to the Romans concerning the Jews: They were zealous for God, but not with discernment. “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” Rom. 10:2-3.

Zeal is absolutely necessary and praiseworthy in order to obtain salvation, but you must also be humble, and humility is followed by discernment. Humility tells us, among many other things, that we need to listen to Him who speaks from heaven and learn from Him who is meek and lowly of heart. Then that self-conscious stiffness will vanish and that pleasant spirit that is so accommodating, and which God can mold, will appear.

It is often our own person that is the focal point of our life, with everything revolving around it; this is living for ourselves. The apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live . . . .” Something is certainly getting done when it is you who live, but the result is dead works that do not produce salvation: you are establishing your own righteousness. This gives rise to a pharisaical disciple with whom we are acquainted from Jesus’ days: they were hard and stubborn when it concerned salvation. This hardness must be crushed, and this is where we need the love of God that endures all things. Then we become yielding and flexible in God’s hand, and then things proceed in the right direction.

Another rigid attitude that arises in this way is that the person is fully convinced that these works that come forth by his own striving and self-will must absolutely be done. If they are not done, the person reproaches himself and is afraid that everything will fall apart. Of course this does not lead through the door and into the sheepfold; it does not produce peace and rest in God but rather a painful lack. In order to deal with this lack, the person is tempted to climb over some other way and be hypocritical.

Here we need light, penetrating light that can reveal what is within us and can speak the truth to us. Love of the truth will cause us to humble ourselves before God and will bring us into a state in which the Master can use us and make a vessel out of us according to His will.

May God help all of us to abide in faith and love, through all the difficulties; then all the battles and sufferings will have taught us something, and our resulting experiences will be of help to others in our ministry.