Isaiah 64:8 NKJV
[8] But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Good Morning!
Isaiah 64 was written around 760 BC. The potters of those days did not have the luxury of electric potter’s wheels like today. They had to use their entire bodies when forming the clay. Their feet turned the wheel and kept it spinning while their hands formed the clay.
And the clay, it was not just purchased from a store in a nice package, it had to be dug from the ground in a dried up form and broken up into very small pieces, using a hammer. Then poured into a bucket and mixed with water until it became pliable, this could take up to weeks for the clay to become usable. Then it is stirred up again and sifted through a sieve to remove any particles or pebbles.
Ancient Pottery Workshop
When I think about this verse from the aspect of how pottery was made in those days, it brings a new light to how God works in us.
God is not merely sitting on the throne directing, He is fully engaged with His whole being in our lives. He is breaking us sometimes before we can be a usable lump of clay. He is removing particles and pebbles before even putting us on the potter’s wheel. Then His hands guide us and form us, adding water to us to keep us pliable until He can form us into who He wants us to fully become. His feet keep the wheel of our lives in motion, spinning us continually. He takes pleasure in “crafting” us to His liking. With His mind He knows what we are to become. He sees the vision of our lives as His hands and feet work to form us and mold us.
It is not an easy process. Some of us “lumps of clay” are harder to form than others, yet He is steadfast and keeps the wheel of our lives turning as he continually removes the particles in our clay and keeps our hearts pliable as He molds us. The process is long and hard. It takes a lifetime for us to become a piece of pottery. One day, when Jesus returns or when The Lord calls us home, we will fully become the piece of pottery that God wants us to be. Until then, we sit and spin and let God mold us, form us, add water to us, use tools to carve us, add clay, remove clay and keep on forming us into who we will become.
As you see, it is not up to the clay. All the clay can do is sit and spin. The clay is fully dependent on the potter’s hands and feet to make it into what it will become. So therefore, we need to understand that it is not by our might, nor by our power, but by The Spirit of The Lord that we accomplish anything in our lives.
Zechariah 4:6 NKJV
[6] So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
As we “sit and spin,” ask God to mold you into the man or woman that He wants you to become, forming us each day more and more. Let him take away the particles and pebbles of iniquity that we all have and replace it with pliable clay that He can use and form us with the vision He has for our lives for His kingdom.
I love you and am praying for you today!
Dad