Like clay in the Potter's hands

Dear friend

Some of the best object lessons are found in the scriptures. I find it helpful when everyday items or situations are used to illustrate and simplify concepts that might otherwise be abstract or metaphysical. One such analogous aphorism is found in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 18:1-5.

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

We may consider ourselves to be of the house of Israel, either by lineage birth, or by adoption after accepting Christ and His kingdom on earth. Due to our spiritual limitations we might struggle to concretise concepts like us being in the hands of the Lord. How literal is that? Does being in His hands relate to control or protection or something else? How is being in His hands different, or not, from being in His eye, or His heart?

In these verses the Lord teaches Jeremiah, and us, something deeply meaningful, and I think comforting too, about how our God works with us. Like a potter He gently moulds the basic clay into something useful. It might be simple or ornate; the potter knows what is needed.

We too should aspire to be like clay in the Potter's hands; malleable, allowing the One who knows us better than we know ourselves to shape us. It has been well said that he can do more with our lives than we can do with them. If we make a mistake and become a marred vessel, He can figuratively and literally reform us.

I love the inspired image of us being like clay in the Potter's hands.

Samuel.