The potter and the clay

Saturday August 7, 2021

"You are in my hand like clay in a potter's hand" Isaiah 18. 6

"The clay said to the potter : What are you doing ?" Jeremiah 45. 9

The potter and the clay

Chapter 45 of the prophet Isaiah emphasizes the sovereignty of God : "I am the Lord and there is no other" (v. 5, 6, 18). The verbs to do, to create, to form, to establish, to order, come back constantly : "It is I who made the earth and created man who people it. It is I, it is my hands that spread the sky, and it is it is I who give orders to all the heavenly bodies" (v. 12, 18).

The first verses of this chapter 45 also recall that without knowing it, King Cyrus was an instrument in the hand of the Lord to enable Israel to return from captivity to Babylon (Ezra 1.1), like Nebuchadnezzar l had been to deport him (1 Chronicles 6:15). God is indeed the one who directs the hearts of kings at will (Proverbs 21.1). And in this chapter of Isaiah, the sovereignty of God is illustrated by the image of the potter who shapes a clay vessel as he wishes. That a shard (piece of clay) contests with other shards (Isaiah 45. 9), that is to say that a man contests with his fellows this can be conceived. But no one can dispute with God who "does everything in accordance with the decisions of his will" (Ephesians 1.11).

The prophet Jeremiah uses the same image. Let's go down with him to the potter's workshop. Let us observe it in its turn : if the vase is failed, it is not the skill of the potter which is in question, but the quality of the clay. He will have to knead the clay again, make it more malleable, in order to finally be able to draw from it a vase that he likes (Jeremiah 18. 4).

To follow and serve the Lord, we must first let ourselves be formed by him. All our own will must be put aside so that, like the clay of the potter, we are supple and malleable in his hand, not putting up any resistance to his work. All our circumstances, happy or painful, are permitted by God who is sovereign, but full of love in view of this formation. Without contesting, let us be molded in the hands of the divine potter. Submitted to his will, receptive to what he wants to teach us, we can each become a vessel "of noble, holy use, useful to his master (or suitable for the service of the master), ready for any good work" (2 Timothy 2. 21).

Source (Pleasing the Lord)