The Potter's Clay

UV 955/10,000 Isaiah 29 v 16 The Potter’s Clay Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Isaiah 29 v 16 When the apostles Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel in Thessalonica, they were accused of having turned the world upside down. In fact, God turned the world right side up with the good news that through the greatest injustice in history meted out to the absolutely perfect human who ever walked on the face of the earth, the lives of all people could be turned right side up. As the potter does to the clay that has hardened and misshapen, the Lord broke our usual concept of life and its meaning and gave a new shape to our beliefs and our practices. our thoughts and our habits. Just as the clay cannot comprehend the ultimate shape the potter is going to give it, we cannot fully understand what shape our lives are finally going to take. Suffice it to know that He regards us as His special or precious clay. Instead of jumping off the potter’s wheel in pursuit of own own dreams and ambitions, we should yield ourselves to His loving and caring hands to shape and form our lives. It is vain and presumptuous for us to question the Potter. The Lord as the Potter uses one hand to shape us from within and the other hand to shape us from the outside. Sometimes He turns our lives upside down so that He is able to deal with our flaws or weaknesses. At such times, we should not only say that we have feet of clay but that our entire being is clay that is best formed and re-formed by Him. We cannot deny that He has made us. We cannot question His design or His wisdom. He will shape us according to the purpose He has in mind for us. He will invest in us the inner strength and gifts that we need for fulfilling that purpose. The trials and tribulations He allows us to go through in life are intended as the furnace heat to evaporate the moisture in the mix of clay and to harden and strengthen us. Whatever our position or shape or external attributes, we are earthen pots to carry His Word of truth. We need to daily fill ourselves with a fresh outpouring of His truth into us. Prateep V Philip