VESSELS UNTO HONOR

By Reverend William Claire Greiner

IN THE HOUSE OF THE POTTER

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
4 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.
5 men the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
6 0 house of lsrael, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, 0 house of Israel. "

One of the great metaphors used throughout Scripture is that of the potter and the clay. In Genesis 2:7 we read that Adam was 'formed ... of the dust of the ground" and "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. "

Scientists have noted that the chemical constituents of the human body do, in fact, compare with the chemistry of clay.

Dr. M. R. DeHaan, in his book "The Chemistry of the Blood," states, "By his body Adam was allied with the earth. Chemically the body of man differs not a particle from the earth out of which he was taken. The human body consists of about 85 percent water (hydrogen and oxygen), calcium, sodium, iron, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, and a large number of rare elements. This allies him closely to the inorganic creation."

God said: "Out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Genesis 3:19).

Job said, "Thou hast made me as the clay" (Job 10:9).

Paul refers to Christians as "earthen vessels" or "jars of clay." "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).

God spoke to the prophet Jeremiah and told him to "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message" (Jeremiah 18:2). It is there Jeremiah sees a vessel suddenly crushed, marred in the hands of the potter; and then he sees that selfsame vessel molded and fashioned again until it is finished and perfected.

While the first and final application is to the nation of Israel, there is a practical application for us today as God’s children.

THE PRINCIPLE OF THE POTTER

The principle of this entire figure is that of the sovereignty of God and the need for man's unquestioning submission thereto. If you and I ever hope to reach our potential in life, we must be willing to bend and respond to the hands and will of the Potter. We must be willing to endure the slow, tedious process of preparing the clay for its moment on the wheel and eventually the heat of the furnace.

The potter has absolute right over the clay. His power is unlimited. The raw clay lying beneath his hand has no power within itself to attain to any greatness. It is but a mass of gray, or half-dirty-white material! There is nothing within the clay that enables it to realize its potential. It has no wish nor will of its own. Between the potter and the clay there is no link of intellect, emotion or volition. The clay cannot cooperate with the potter.

In contrast, however, you and I as shapeless clay have been created by God with the power to choose and to elect. We have the privilege of cooperating with the Master Potter. He is absolutely sovereign and man's wisdom lies in an unconditional surrender to the will of God.

Our wills are ours, we know not how,
Our wills are ours to make them Thine.
                                    —Tennyson

In life we search for a reason for the pressure on the wheel. We seek an explanation for the pain and an understanding of the crushing experiences of life. What is the purpose behind it all?

We are not told what the potter’s purpose is, only that he has a purpose. It says he "wrought a work on the wheels. " The potter is doing something. He is not fooling with the clay, he is not playing with it, he is not amusing himself. It is work. It is serious and there is purpose in it.

In the midst of the pressures and disciplines of life, we need to remember that God is not toying with us. In His mind there is a purpose. The clay does not know what that purpose is. The onlooker cannot tell. Only the potter knows. Presently, however, the onlooker will know as the potter forms and fashions the clay. The clay itself will discover that which it did not know at first—the purpose of the potter. The comforting realization is that when the potter takes that clay and puts it on his wheel, and places his hand upon it, he means something.

The chief role of the potter is to unbind what is bound. His aim is to release the clay to become all that it can become. Each of us has unique work to do, unique contributions to make on earth, and no one who can take the place God has intended for us. In spite of all our faults and flaws, we are His masterpieces beyond comparison. We are designs that confound science and technology. We are the most complicated combination of molecules ever set in motion.

So the potter has a thought in his mind for the clay. The clay is ignorant of that thought, nor can it know it, except as it yields itself to the potter.

The thing most central in the house of the potter is that of the person of the potter. It is only as we discover the person of the potter, that the purpose will flame with light, and the principle of His sovereignty will become the tenderest and the sweetest thing in our lives. We must see God!

Philip cried out, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (John 14:8).

Jesus answered, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?"

It is in Jesus Christ that the great Potter comes into view. In those feet that turn the wheel and in those hands that mold the clay are nail prints. The Potter is the one who died for me. As my Savior He is personally involved in my life. He is passionately in love with me and has my best interests at heart. He is patient and persistent in His purpose of making me into a vessel worthy of His name.

It’s interesting that the potter's field is last mentioned in Scripture in connection with our Lord. In Matthew 27:7,8 in the story of Judas we read, "They took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day."

The potter's field was the field or yard outside the potter's house where the wreckage was cast. It was this field that was bought with the blood-money of the Son of God. How little they understood the significance of what they did. By the mystery of our Lord’s betrayal, the mystery our Lord’s being sold for the price of a slave, the vessel, marred in the hands of the potter, may be made again—another vessel as seems good to the potter.

Clay is universal and is formed when certain rocks known as feldspar and granite decompose and disintegrate. There are two types of clay: Primary Clay and Secondary Clay

PRIMARY CLAY is clay that is found at the location of the mother rock. It is quite pure but difficult to work with, as it is lacking in strength.
SECONDARY CLAY, on the other hand, is clay that has been carried from its original bed by streams and rivers and deposited in swamps and slow moving river beds. Because of its long exposure to the elements, this clay is more pliable and useable. It also contains ingredients and impurities which, when subjected to the furnace, produce the rich colors of grays, and browns, blues, and blacks.

Isn't it remarkable how God in His grace takes our ugliness and turns it into beauty? He takes our weakness and converts it into strength. Even the most magnificent piece of pottery began as particles of dust.

"Something beautiful, something good;
All my confusion, He understood;
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,
But He made something beautiful out of my life." 
                                            — William J. Gaither

As the potter searches for the raw clay, thorns may prick his hands. Yet he selects and gathers the treasured clay and brings it home. It is awesome to realize that the Master Potter, almighty God Himself, goes out of His way to find us right where we are. Wherever we walk, we find the Potter has been there, too. Quietly He searches, finds His clay, bends down to pick up the formless material, and rejoices over what it will become.

David testifies in Psalm 40:2 — 'He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.. "

As the potter searches in the hills and chooses his clay, he already envisions the completed vessel. He sees beyond the shapeless lump of clay and sees the finished, refined vessel — a jar, a pot, a vase, a tea cup. Before you and I ever came into existence, before we were born, God saw us and chose us "in Him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4).

The potter sees within the clay the potential for beauty, strength and usefulness. He wants to free that potential and bring that beauty into existence.

The first thing the potter does with the freshly found clay is to pound it into fine particles and spread it out in fist-sized piles to dry. This is not a pleasant process, but without this crushing experience, the clay will never be submissive to the skillful hands of the potter.

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out —
God knows what He’s about.

Until we are broken before God, we will never become the vessels He intends for us to be. Pride and self-will need to be broken at the Cross. "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18).

"The things that God is most concerned about are our coldness of heart towards Himself and our proud, unbroken natures. Christian service of itself can, and so often does, leave our self-centered nature untouched" — Roy Hession.

When James Calvert went as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back. "You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages," he cried. Calvert only replied, "We died before we came here."

Things have changed dramatically for the lump of clay. It’s not what it used to be. Even though it retains its original chemistry it has literally given up its identity. Likewise as you and I surrender to the Master Potter we, too, give up our own identities, entrusting ourselves fully to the Potter’s hand as we are chosen, broken down, screened, mixed, and prepared for usefulness.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

When someone asked George Mueller, "What has been the secret of your life?" Mueller hung his head and said, "There was a day when I died." Then he bent lower and said, "Died to George Mueller, his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of brethren or friends."

After the clay has been crushed and broken it is placed in tanks of water where the purifying process begins. For several days the potter stirs this clay mixture to remove the impurities. It is a slow procedure, but crucial for the making of an honorable vessel. The potter wants nothing less than a pure vessel.

David the Psalmist, aware of this need in his relationship with God, prayed, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. . . Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:2, 7).

"Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27).

God has guaranteed cleansing for the clay. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9,10).

Following the purifying process, the clay slurry is set aside to dry and mature into a plastic, workable form. As clay in the Master Potter’s hands, we resent such a delay. Impatiently we want to get on the wheel immediately to become a beautiful vessel. But the potter knows that willingness to wait can mean the difference between a mediocre vessel and one of great worth. Some potters will age their clay as long as five years. Maturing takes time.

Peter reminds us that we are to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2Peter 3:18), and growing takes time.

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37:7).

He’s still working on me...
It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars;
How patient and loving He must be...
He’s still working on me.

Abraham was 75 years old when God first announced that He would make him the father of many nations. Yet Abraham and Sarah had to wait 25 years more before they had Isaac, their son of promise.

God’s preparation of the apostle Paul likewise involved a long waiting period. After his dramatic conversion, Paul was eager to begin preaching the gospel, but God had other plans. He sent Paul into the Arabian desert, where he spent three years. It was only after these years of maturing and quiet instruction that Paul was ready to begin his active and sometimes stormy ministry.

We do not always understand the periods of waiting, but God knows what He is doing with each of us and knows what kind of preparation we need. He wants the best for us, so He takes great care with His earthen vessels.

During this preparatory period the potter strengthens the clay by adding silica, grog or felsite. This also makes it more workable, enabling it to be stretched into shape and remain strong. It gives greater stability to the vessel.

Likewise God adds to our lives those experiences and qualities that will make us strong and productive.

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:5-8).

Notice that love is one of the key additives. Love is a binding force which knits together all the varied elements to make a family or body indomitable against trials, betrayal, or any of the storms of life. "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness [wholeness)" (Colossians 3:14).

Believers need to bind themselves to Bible-believing churches and tap into the strength of the Family of God. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together."

The potter chooses and purifies the clay. Then he patiently leaves it undisturbed for a period of time to mature. He adds elements to strengthen and sustain the clay. Now he begins to knead (wedge) the clay. Any stone, no matter how tiny, must be removed. The smallest impediment, if not dealt with, will manifest itself in the firing and ruin the vessel making it fit only for the discard heap or, at best, a dusty shelf somewhere.

Kneading also drives out air pockets which if allowed to remain could explode during firing. It also gives the clay the proper consistency. If water content is not equally distributed, the clay will shrink unevenly during the firing process causing the piece to become warped.

So the potter kneads and kneads and kneads the clay, sometimes even treading on the clay to make it more pliable and yielded. Likewise God in His patience and persistence works in our lives, kneading us and working out the hardened flaws. Through the Holy Spirit, He shows us the sins and impurities in our lives. Then through His Son, He cleanses and purifies us. He works out those areas in our lives that are unpleasing to Him. Rebellious and careless stones will damage our effectiveness as vessels. The Lord will be our judge, and "He will bring to light what is hidden darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts" (1 Corinthians 4:5).

With the Psalmist, we need to pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23,24).

The Master potter is not always gentle, but He is always patient, persistent, and purpose driven. He is full of hope.

Potters tell us that when the clay attains the softness of the human ear lobe the kneading process is complete. Now the potter covers the clay with a wet cloth to keep it moist and sets it aside to rest for a week or ten days. This is crucial for the clay, as it is during this rest period that air escapes from the clay, forming a more even texture. Rest also increases the plasticity of the clay so it will not crack during the forming of the pot. Clay that is sufficiently rested makes the best pottery. Thus the potter carefully balances kneading with rest.

According to doctors, topping a list of instructions for a healthy heart are: "Take enough time for exercise," and right beneath it, "Take enough time for rest."

"He makes me lie down" (Psalm 23:2).

For most of us, rest is a result of tiredness after work, but rest is also the prerequisite for things to come. Adam and Eve were commanded to rest on the seventh day, the day after they were created. It was the day God rested. Yet Adam and Eve had no part in the great creation. Their rest day was actually their first day. They were not commanded to rest after they had done any labor but before. Although rest certainly would be needed following labor as well.

God gave laws and guidelines in the O.T. commanding His people, indeed, all of creation, to rest.

God knows that our lives need the balance of rest and work, quietness and activity. The Levitical laws in Leviticus 25 even included a rest for the land every seventh year and every fiftieth year -- known to the Jews as the year of Jubilee. The construction engineer wisely allows rest time for the ground to settle the foundation of any building. Rests are deliberately written into music. They are a part of very great symphony. Without rests there is no music, only noise. The most powerful speeches and the most dramatic moments, the best news commentaries and the most effective readings are achieved not so much by eloquence as by the master of pauses. It is the empty spaces on a page, the rests between letters, that give form and meaning, that give words their identity. Without rest there can be only chaos.

Potters who skip the resting period only find that the clay will crack under the strain when it is on the wheel. Likewise, when our bodies are not given the proper rest, both on a daily and a weekly basis, they start to break down. Without the proper balance of rest and activity, our lives begin to show cracks under the strain.

We live in a panic-driven age. The motto of modern life seems to be: HURRY! WORRY! BURY! Every day we see harried business executives, harried parents at home with young children, and university students. Isn’t it interesting that we are the only nation that has a "Mount Rushmore"?

Our bodies need time to even out, to stabilize, to balance out, or we will crack. For this reason the Great Physician says, "Come apart and rest awhile" (Mark 6:31).

Not only does the potter rest the clay to ward off the risk of cracking but also to improve its plasticity. The potter finds that at the end of the rest the clay is more pliable and ready to be shaped. And when you and I quiet our lives long enough to rest and be still before God, then He is able to shape and direct us.

God says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

It is not the rushed, loud and ostentatious prayers that call down the presence of God, rather it is in quiet moments alone with Him that we gain inner peace and hear His voice. Through times in which we are forced to rest, God shapes us and uses us. There is power in being still. Great composers sat and dreamed, and their stillness music floated up to them. Great works of literature were written by those whose minds grew sensitive to nature in quiet stillness.

George Frederic Handel went through a prolific period in his career; then he hit a slump. For months he was unable to compose anything, not even this thoughts. Becoming too busy with the routines that his job and society demanded of him, Handel’s life was so hectic for a while that he was at times unable to finish a piece until two weeks before its opening.

Although a relentless artistic urge drove him onward, it has been said that if he had died at the end of his first 55 years of life, no one would recall his name today. It seemed that for every success he had a comparable failure. Growing more an more frustrated, Handel tried harder to created some new acceptable piece of music. In his frustration he could produce nothing except piles and piles of paper waddled up and tossed into the trash. In desperation, he gave up, his body too exhausted to try any more.

Handel withdrew into himself, and neither his best friends nor his closest colleagues saw him for almost a year. He was physically worn out, mentally drained, and spiritually barren.

For eleven months he rested from composing. The one night as he lay stretched out across his bed, almost sleeping, he began to hear long and beautiful strains of music floating up to his ears; he lay still and listened. Where was it coming from? What was it? It sounded new to his ears, fresh and magnificent. He sat up and started to write what he "heard," and he could hardly write fast enough; the music kept flowing and flowing, bending and moving and dipping back to pick up a phrase in another key.

For 24 days Handel wrote. From Saturday, August 22, 1741, to Monday, September 14, 1741, he did not leave his house at Upper Brook Street. Emerging from his long rest and working almost around the clock, he wrote page after page. At times when supper was brought to him, he had not yet touched his lunch.

Seven months later that music was presented for the first time and was so well received in Dublin that it was later performed in London in 1743. When the chorus began the mighty "Hallelujah," the audience, which included King George II, was so stirred that they rose from their seats and remained standing throughout the grand finale. And it was this composition, the Messiah, that became Handel’s masterpiece and continues to be performed all over the world today.

The Messiah was composed because George Frederic Handel had rested from composing.

To be still, to be at rest, is not taking time away from the production process. Rather, it is part of the process. The potter in His infinite wisdom rests His clay —in hopes for its achievement tomorrow.

When the resting period is over, the potter prepares the wheel. He wets it slightly to provide adhesive strength. Then he picks up the clay and places it onto the wheel. He now begins to shape the clay into a cone, patting the base of the mound as he quickly rotates the wheel forcing the clay to center and remain firm. In reality he is taming the clay as he grips the clay firmly in both hands and stretches it upward. Then he puts his hands on top of the clay, pressing it downward again, as if to remind the clay that the hand of the potter is in control and not the movement of the wheel.

The wheel is the potter’s chief creative tool and certainly one of the oldest mechanical devices known, dating back to at least 2000 B.C. The principle of the wheel is repetition. Only as the lump of clay is turned around and around does it take on a form and identity. The potter could make a pot without a wheel, but it is the repetitious turning the vessel that makes it made smooth, balanced, and even.

In a similar way our Potter, the Lord Jesus, prepares us through the circumstances of life. Through the mundane repetitious events of our lives He spins us into shape and lifts us higher than we were before. God uses circumstances to work out His perfect will. The word "circumstances" itself is derived from the very circle, the wheel, that the potter works upon. The Latin root circum means "around," and stance means "to stand." Those who will stand in the circle of routine and circumstances will surely come out refined and strengthened vessels.

Clay has a natural tendency to go its own way, so the potter cups his strong hands around the clay and with patience and persistence shapes the vessel. His touch is loving, and as he works in silence a warm rapport develops between the master and the mass of clay swirling between his hands.

The Creator of the galaxies and of time knows each one of us intimately. "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them" (Psalm 139:16).

A child watched his father in the basement of their home as the man chipped away at a block of white marble that he had purchased in Italy. Weeks passed, and the father often worked late into the night while the boy was not watching. Finally one morning the sculptor took his son by the hand and led him to the covered piece on which he had been working. he lifted the cloth, and there sat a solid white statue of Abraham Lincoln. The sculptor’s son clapped his hands to his mouth in great surprise. "Father!" he shrieked. "How did you know he was in there?"

God knew each of us before we were born. He knew what we would look like and He knew for what purpose He had created us. He is a potter who knows beauty and harmony, order and symmetry. Our God is a potter who finishes a vessel and says, "This is my vessel; it is very good."

The clay needs only to respond to the movement of the potter’s hands. It is that quiet ability to cooperate with the potter that is the key to success. It is our response to the Potter that counts — our response to the Word of God and our response to what we have been given. We need not complain if we have been given a mole or a freckle or a nose unlike our neighbor’s. Our complaining about the way the Potter has made us is a serious affront to His wisdom and sovereignty.

We we need to say, "I His workmanship. There is none other like me in all the land. I am a chosen vessel of the King of Kings. I am unique. I am special;. I am an individual. I am who I am, and I accept myself with all of my limitations and all of my possibilities."

A second grader in Tennessee made a good start toward a sense of self-esteem when he submitted an essay entitled "My Face" to his teacher. "My face has two brown eyes,’ the seven-year-old began. "It has a nose and two cheeks. And two ears and a mouth. I like my face. I’m glad my face is just like it is. It is not bad, it is not good, but just right."

Fanny Crosby, that marvelous writer of many of our hymns, lived to be 95 years old. She was blind all her life, but what a perspective on life she had. When she was eight years old, she wrote,

Oh what a happy child I am although I cannot see,
I am determined that in this world, contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don’t.
To weep and sigh because I’m blind I cannot and I won’t.

On her grave in Bridgeport, Connecticut, there is a simple little headstone with the name "Aunt Fanny" and these words: "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine."

In each of the potter’s vessels there is worth. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and be ourselves. Wherever we are on the road of life, we are in the process of becoming the unique person God wants us to be. The Potter does not hurry His clay, nor can the clay hurry the Potter. The process is gradual. Seldom does anyone see all of God’s will at once. We see only so far, and we know only so much. Spiritual maturity comes one day at a time, and we need not be discouraged if we see ourselves as only a lump sitting on the Potter’s wheel while all around us there are full-grown vessels.

Potters say that the principal difficulty in making a form on the wheel is the tendency of the clay not to rise. It has a natural tendency to squat down where it is. Likewise, you and I as clay in the Potter’s hands, have a tendency to squat and resist change. We stop short of the mark. We attain a little ability and quit. We gain a little knowledge of the Bible, but resist the discipline of mastering the Scriptures for day-to-day conflicts.

Many Christians rest comfortably in their salvation, but tend not to go on to higher service. They succumb to complacency and need to be nudged onward and upward. The thrust to move upward comes from the force of the potter inside the pot rather than from an external influence. The potter is an interior artist working from the inside out. So, the Holy Spirit of God shapes and molds our inner selves, transforming the vessel.

There are two forces at work on the clay—inner and outer forces as the potter uses both hands. The left hand works on the inside, defining the vessel’s space and capacity to contain. The right hand presses from the outside, controlling, directing and defining the form of the vessel.

It’s important to note that in forming the clay the potter never starts near the top nor in the middle. He starts at the bottom and pulls the clay upward. Then he knocks the clay back down again. These are the Potter’s stretching techniques—lifting up and knocking down. Do you ever find yourself being stretched and lifted to a peak experience, only to find ourselves knocked flat? When the Potter brings us down and starts us from the bottom again, it is always for a higher purpose.

Before Moses was raised up to lead a nation of three million people from a land of slavery into a new land of freedom, he was brought down to become a shepherd for forty years. What better preparation could there be for the great task of herding three million human wanderers across the wilderness?

The Potter knows his clay. Too rapid an ascent may cause the vessel to lean and get off center. It may cause the wall on one side to become too thin while the other is too thick, distorting the vessel. On the other hand, too slow an ascent will bring the clay nowhere. It only becomes soggy and heavy. The vessel develops only as a result of gentle collaboration between the potter’s hands and his clay.

Potters have been known to breathe into the clay form, placing his mouth on the mouth of the bottle and blowing gently, then sealing it shut for a while. The soft clay of the vessel gives under the pressure of the warm air and expands lightly like a balloon. This gives an amazing resistance and springiness to the form, which then can be raised to a narrower shape or pushed down to a smaller shape without collapsing because the breath is inside.

In Genesis we find God making Adam from the clay and then breathing into him the breath of life. In the book of Acts we read of Holy Spirit coming like a breath of new power into the lives of His followers. The Holy Spirit indwelling the believer provides the internal pressure or force that God uses to shape us.

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians 5:18).

Before the potter removes the pot from the wheel, he examines it for flaws. He checks it for balance to see if one side is thinner than the other? He checks it for shape. He checks it for deformities. He checks it for nicks or ridges left by his wooden shaping tool.

Often the potter purposefully allows a slight variation to remain on the vessel to enhance its individuality and uniqueness. Sometimes when we look at ourselves and at others we begin to judge by physical characteristics. What may seem a flaw or weakness may actually be a strength. A person’s ability and worth are not determined by what we see on the outside.

"The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

As a teenager Joni Eareckson was injured in a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic. Did these imperfections make her useless? Not at all. Joni’s’ books, records, and paintings (done with pen or brush held in her mouth) reveal a joyful woman whom God has powerfully used.

The Master Potter has used marred vessels to touch a multitude of lives. God uses the flaws to glorify Himself.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:28,29).

Some vessels, however, are marred to the extend that the potter needs to remake them completely.

"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 18:4).

Here we see the potter taking a terribly marred pot and making it again. He changes the shape of the vessel but not its substance. He starts again with the same lump of clay on the wheel, spinning it round and round until he brings forth a new creation in conformity to His will.

No matter how marred we become, the Master Potter can salvage us. None of us is beyond the restoring hand of the Lord. God is always willing to take our lives that have become misshapen by sin, abuse, and rebelliousness and reshape them, making us into new vessels of His choosing, shaping as it seems best to Him.

Moses killed a man, but God restored him and made him a dynamic and patient leader of an entire nation. Jonah ran away from the Lord, but God put him back on the wheel and said, "Go again!"

Peter denied Jesus, but he returned to the Lord, and the Lord transformed him into a pillar of mighty strength in the church.

God is in the business of remaking marred vessels.

Jesus went about restoring men and women to that which they were meant to be. He straightened a man’s withered hand. He released a man from evil spirits. He raised Lazarus from the dead. And when Lazarus came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, Jesus commanded the people standing by: "Loose him, and let him go" (John 11:44). That is the work of Jesus Christ — loosening people from their bondage. He dined with sinners. He said to the prostitute, "Go and sin no more." She became a worthy vessel.

The guilty listened to Him and began to see themselves as worthy vessels.

So, too, God can take you and me in His knowing hand, steady our trembling bodies and fashion us again into a new work.

"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 18:4).

When the shaping of the vessel is complete, it is ready for the ultimate test— the firing action of the kiln. Any pot that does not go through the "fire" is too soft to be of any value. It is in the fire that clay actually hardens into a rocklike vessel. A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. In the same way God, the Master Potter, uses the fire to mature, strengthen, and change us.

Isaiah speaks of God’s chosen people Israel being tested in the furnace of affliction. "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10).

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2-4).

No person who has endured the furnace will ever be the same. Yet we fear the fire because fire produces heat, pressure, and pain. We know that fire has the potential to destroy us, but in the hands of a sovereign and loving God, fire brings forth vessels of endurance and supreme value—beauty and strength from the ashes of adversity.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Two firings are required for vessels of honor. The first firing is merely hot enough to harden the surface to accept the glaze that will be applied. The clay vessel is placed in the kiln when the kiln is cold. Then the fire is kindled slowly. The clay still has moisture in it, and if this water content heats up and expands too quickly the pot will burst.

Following this first firing, the vessel is still fragile and can be easily chipped or broken. It is not yet water-resistant and will stain readily. It must be glazed and subjected to an even hotter firing. The second firing hardens the glaze, making the vessel water-resistance and durable for use.

Likewise, the Master Potter allows us to undergo the intense heat of trials and difficulties, for it is through these trials that He transforms us from weak, changeable people into strong, useful vessels.

In the intense heat of the kiln lovely colors such as brown and green and ochre are released. A drab, chalky glaze is now transformed to smooth glass and a beauty hitherto unknown.

We see this illustrated in the life of Job when God used the fires of testing to bring forth beauty. Job recognized that even though he himself did not always see God’s presence in his suffering, God was in control.

"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

"So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses" (Job 42:12).

When we hear the name of Job we seem to remember nothing else about him except that he suffered. But like the potter who waits to open the kiln, let us stay with Job through the final chapter.

In the first chapter of the book of Job in chapter one we learn that he was a prominent and wealthy man. The Bible says that "he was the greatest man among all the people of the East" (Job 1:3). He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred donkeys. Yet verse twelve of the final chapter tells us that in the end he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys—twice as much as he had before.

Early in the book we read that all Job’s children had died in a typhoon or tornado or what the Bible calls "a mighty wind" that caused the house to collapse on them. At the end of the story Job had again fathered seven sons and three daughters, the same number of children he had before. But this time the Bible notes that his daughters were especially beautiful. "Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters" (42:15).

"And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10).

"After this Job lived an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days" (Job 42:16,17).

God does bring about circumstances in which we can discover His best for us, and sometimes those circumstances may involve pain or suffering on our part. But the Bible reminds us that pain and suffering produce good results.

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6,7).

Like the clay in the potters’ kiln, we are not merely strengthened by the fiery trials of life, we are changed. The clay is transformed from a soft, textured vessel to beautiful porcelain, slippery glassware resembling a valuable and precious stone. Beauty comes out of human suffering and a certain loveliness from the potter’s kiln.

Never forget that the potter never abandons the vessel in the kiln. He sits on watch through the fiery ordeal, making sure that the temperature is not too hot for the vessel. He keeps stoking the kiln at regular intervals for 42 hours straight. "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 21:4).

God knows just how much of the fire we need and just how much adversity we can bear. He examines each of us individually and watches over us in the furnace.

"But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee " (Isaiah 43:1-3).

God not only promises to be with us in the fire, but He assures us that the fire will not consume us. He knows when the fire has done its job, and He says, "Enough!" Only the potter knows the right time to pull us out of the fire.

In the furnace the fire has burned away debris, hardened the vessel, brought out the color and matured it as a whole piece It can now be touched and moved about. It can enter into a life of service. It has become that which the potter intended.

At this moment you and I are somewhere in the process of becoming what God intends. He is using our difficulties to transform us, to burn away the ugliness and unnecessary clutter, to strengthen us, to reveal our beauty, to mature us and help make us whole.

"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him" (James 1:12).

The potter usually places his signature or seal upon each vessel, claiming authorship and ownership. So, too, God has placed His seal upon His vessels. "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His" (2 Timothy 2:19-21).

Therefore "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:19-21).

Potters celebrate the completion of their vessels, sharing with their friends the miracle of the transformed clay—radiant and ready, solid and strong, willing and worthy.

"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, He will joy over thee with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).

"Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him" (2 Corinthians 5:9).

The potter lovingly touches each vessel, enjoying their uniqueness. Each piece, large or small, went through the same process of breaking, washing, resting, disciplining, forming and going through the fire. Each vessel is of equal importance in the plan of the potter and is ready now to be filled and used. Some will serve behind the scenes where only the master of the house knows where they are and what they are doing. Others will be out front where the world might praise them. But each piece has been chosen to be what it is, and each possesses an inner treasure not kown to the world.

Clay vessels are still clay, but in the hands of God, who is our Master Potter, even the lowliest of us can be refined and exalted to a second chance to be more tomorrow than we were yesterday.

Though clay we may be, and to clay we return,
How lovely our lives when the dross He does burn;
And when we shall enter those great pearly gates
Where Jesus with welcoming arms kindly waits,
We’ll see that the fire was never in vain,
And the vessel He fashioned was worth every pain.
                                                —Larry W. Greiner

"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" (Romans 9:20-24).

God’s holiness would lead Him to show His wrath, yet He withholds His wrath and "endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction."

"Vessels of wrath" are not vessels filled with wrath nor prepared to serve for a manifestation of divine wrath, but appertaining to wrath. By their own willful acts they have fallen under the wrath of Almighty God.

The word"fitted" is from a Greek word (katartizo) meaning literally "adjusted". The vessels are not fitted by God for destruction, but ready and ripe for the destruction because of their own stubborn wills. The vessels themselves had a hand in the matter. "Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thessalonians 2:15,16).

It is a frightening thought to contemplate the wrath of God that will eventually be poured out on clay that refuses His sovereignty and grace and does not submit to the breaking, the purifying, the kneading, the forming and the fire? Such clay has surrendered to the evil one who in turn shapes them into vessels of wrath.

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury" (Jeremiah 19:11).

It was common in Bible times to find at a spring or well of water pieces of broken jars to be used as ladles either to drink from or fill with. Bits of fractured jars were preserved for that very purpose. The destruction by the wrath of God, as mentioned by Isaiah, was to be so complete that there would not be left one piece of sherd large enough for that.

The other allusion in this passage is to that of "sherds to take fire from the hearth." Near the public ovens in Bible times in the evening the children of the poor would come with "sherds" of pottery in their hands into which the baker would pour a small quantity of hot embers and a few coals with which to warm up their evening meal. Isaiah’s vessels, however, were to be broken into such small bits that there would not be a sherd of sufficient size to carry away a few embers from the hearth.

The wrath of God will be severe and complete.

"I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:13).

"Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath" (Ezekiel 22:31).

God in grace and mercy extends an invitation to all mankind to surrender to His masterful hands and let Him transform them into beautiful vessels of mercy. He’s still working on clay!

God grant that we will be vessels unto honor, filled to overflowing with His Spirit.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay;
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ‘til all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

                                                    —Adelaide A. Pollard

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