1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear[a] my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. (Jeremiah 18:1-5 ESV)
There are times when we can become highly frustrated with ourselves or how life has turned out. We compare and contrast our lives against the fantasy we see portrayed in others. Not that they are meaning to portray a fantasy, but it is our perception of how great another’s life might be based upon our very limited vantage point.
We decide we want to either argue with the Potter or mold ourselves in the likeness we believe is best for us. But how often our lives revert back to the lump of clay we began to mold without the skill to do so.
No, the true Potter knows how to fashion us and our lives in a way that is both pleasing to Him and valuable to us. It is the, at times, careless and artless shaping we try to do on our own that causes the vessel to become misshapen. We are clumsy at best when we try to take matters into our own hands. Better to let the Potter to shape us into that which He knows is best.
