Be still and Know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
This morning, I read all about God as the Potter and the Maker. And I thought about how Jesus called His first disciples, “Follow Me and I will make you…”
New Testament readings jumped from Mark 3:13-14 to John 15:12-19 to Matthew 17:4-5. I was all over the place but there was a consistent theme… the making.
The making goes back to the Old Testament and the tower of Babel. “Let us make bricks and let us make a tower to reach the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves.” It’s a picture of people making themselves.
In the very next chapter, though, God appears to Abraham and tells him, “I will make you a great nation. I will make your name great…”
I’d say this is the human condition. Deep down, we want to make something of ourselves. But God wants to make us something else altogether.
I see that in the story of Jesus calling those He wanted. At first, He simply wanted them to be with Him. He called, appointed, and ordained and interestingly, the word appointed (Mar 3:13-14) means to make. When Jesus calls, He wants to make us. The key, though, is we have to sit with Him first. We simply need to spend time with Him.
This has been my constant struggle. From the time I left home at nineteen, I wanted to make something of me. Something big and grand. Mostly, I just wanted to be more than who I was. So I set out to make me the way I thought I should be. But the more I tried making me, the busier I became.
In fact, I was busy about the making right before Corona hit. Friday the 13th halted all my plans but today, I’m thankful for the pause. Because today I saw something beautiful in the story about the Potter (Jeremiah 18).
Verse three says, “Behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.” Turns out, the vessel was spoiled by the potter’s hand so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot. A pot that seemed good to him. God said, “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand.”
Wow. Just what I need to hear. See, I keep trying to make myself into something that seems good to me. I repeat, good to me. But sometimes, my ideas of good don’t mesh with God’s. I’m spoiled in His hand.
But if I let Him, He can rework me into something really good. I have to let go of my plans, though. I have to let go of everything that keeps me busily jumping out of His hand. Seems I’ve had trouble staying there through the course of my life…
Up till recent days, really.
Corona Virus kind of forced the issue though. It forced my hand to cease from working (and making) and caused me to settle into His working Hand. The Potter’s hand. And there, I find He can make me into what He wants.
Jeremiah 18 mentions the potter’s wheel. It’s exactly what you think but here’s the surprise…
The word also means bearing stool, midwife’s stool. The wheel, God’s hand, is the seat where something new is birthed. He doesn’t just want to make us into something, He wants to birth something inside us. He wants to make us new.
That’s what caused me to pause in wonder this morning.
It’s something I wanted to share with my people amidst all this craziness and all that we see happening in the world. Yesterday, I felt a little desperate. And down. Despair that it seems we can’t move forward.
Stuck…
However, today I can’t help but think I am exactly where I’m supposed to be. Directly in the center of the Potter’s wheel, letting Him make me. And for that, I’m so grateful.
Because though it seems like I can’t get anything done, I know God is doing just what needs to be. He’s working and He’s making. And in that, I find peace.
Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. Gal 4:19
painter's daughter (a work in progress) 