Designed by the master

"Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

    We are the clay, you are the potter;

    we are all the work of your hand."

Isaiah 64

Often, as I read passages in the bible, they assault my ego.  They humble me and make me aware that I am not independent, I'm not a "self-made man", but I'm here because of what God has done, what he has made me.

Isaiah the prophet wrote these words, "We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."  Those are humbling words.  They challenge me in several ways.  How I respond to these ideas tell me a lot about what God can do with me in the days ahead.

Being a potter is a difficult task.  You have to be creative, good with you hands, able to conceive the outcome before you even begin, but it's also messy.  Clay is difficult to work with.  It's often an unwilling subject....much like me.  The potter begins with a lump of clay and then works with the outcome already in mind.  He knows what he wants to make.

The clay never gets to decide what it becomes, it's at the mercy of the potter.  One could be a pot to haul water, another a drinking cup and another a work of art in the home.  Each with a purpose, designed by the artist.

And for me, a reluctant piece of clay, the potter is working to make me his work of art and the outcome will be just what he designed.  I find I'm often jealous of what he has done with other lumps of clay, but I have to remember....he designed me perfectly just as he planned.  Being the clay in his hands is humbling, but what a joy to realize I'm exactly what he made me to be....created by the master potter.