Vulnerable But Awesome

UV 2196/10000 Vulnerable but Awesome
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.
Jeremiah 18 v 4

The Lord sits as a potter even as the Earth is a potter’s wheel that is continually spinning. The Lord uses different events and influences to shape each individual as a pot of great beauty and strength. Each of us is a pot in His hand if we Pray, Obey, Trust Him. We are created fearfully and wonderfully. We are created to be vulnerable but awesome like a beautiful clay pot. However, strong and beautiful we look on the outside, we can be broken in an instant. We can easily develop cracks and leaks. If we do not obey His commands and trust Him, we become clay pots that are marred or misshapen or flawed. He needs to break us and re-make us again. Every manger leader or manager is pliant and malleable in the hands of the Lord. He is constantly changing, learning, trusting and obeying the Lord in conforming to the divine design or eternal mould.

Only the Potter knows the kind of pot He needs to fashion. Only He knows the purpose to which it is to be put to. Accordingly, He choses the size, the colour, the material, the decorations, the lid, the type of handle, the circumference whether broad or narrow, the neck and the base. He decides the kind of strength or endurance that needs to be built into each of us so that we can withstand the pressures, trials and temptations of life. Unlike the usual potter and the usual pot, He is never done with us and is shaping us all our earthly lives as long as the earth spins around the sun.

The purpose of a container is not the container but the contents. Likewise, we are vessels of clay with treasures inside us. The treasures are the good news of Jesus, the Word, the testimonies that we have as we live out our faith. The treasure is the hope we have in Jesus. The treasure is the dream we have received from the Lord as Jacob received a dream from the Lord. The treasures are the blessings we receive from the Lord as we pray, obey and trust. A pot is not only malleable, it is permeable. It breathes and lets in air and lets out vapour. This keeps the water inside pots, clean, pure and cool. The water does not stagnate or become putrid. Likewise, as manger leaders and managers as we breathe in the Spirit of God, we stay cool, calm, pure and useful. Like the clay pitchers in Gideon’s volunteer soldiers’ hands, we are also clay pots with a hidden firebrand burning inside us. When the clay pot is broken, the fire and light is revealed, the trumpet of victory is sounded. Remembering that we are but clay pots in the hands of the Divine Potter, keeps us humble, focussed, disciplined, determined, faithful, calm, wise and effective. In short, we are vulnerable but awesome.

Prateep V Philip