The Potter’s Hands

Do you feel like life has you spinning out of control? Think back to when you were a kid and you went to the playground. You and your friends were on the old rusty merry-go-round when someone yelled “faster!” Soon it was spinning faster and faster and the centrifugal force was trying to throw you off, but you hung on to the handles ever so tightly. Everything around you became blurry and that good luck penny you always carried with you flew out of your pocket and landed somewhere on the ground. When the merry-go-round finally came to a stop you were dizzy, disoriented, and maybe even a little sick in your stomach. But soon you were back on that merry-go-round once again yelling “go faster!”

Today, do you feel like you are on that merry-go-round, spinning faster and faster, with everything flying out of your pockets?  And you just hope when things stop spinning that you are not dizzy, disoriented, and sick in your stomach. You collapse in bed, exhausted and worn out, only to find yourself once again back on that dizzying ride tomorrow. Sound familiar?  

Now contrast that image with one of a studio potter using a pottery wheel to make something beautiful out of clay, the finished product called a vessel. The potter takes a glob of clay, puts it on the wheel, then uses his or her foot to spin the wheel while forming the clay with their hands, taking great care to keep the clay just the right wetness so it can be formed and re-formed, and eventually, a ceramic vessel, maybe even masterpiece, is made. The shaping of the clay using this wheel method is called “throwing” pottery, derived from the Old English word thrawan, meaning to “twist or turn.” (Much of today’s ceramic pieces are mass produced using a jiggering machine.)

During the forming process the wheel is always spinning, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, with its speed determined by the potter. And, maybe most importantly, the potter’s hands never leave the clay, because if the potter were to ever remove his hands, the clay would fly right off the wheel and be ruined. If the finished vessel does not meet the specifications of the potter, the process starts over again until the vessel turns out to potter’s liking.

The Bible tells us that God is the potter and we are the clay. In Isaiah 64:8 we read these words; “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all work in your hand.”

Jeremiah 18:1-4 says this – “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.” So, just what is the message? First, you must remain soft and pliable so God can form you and re-form you. Secondly, you can have confidence that God, your Master Potter, always has His hands on you, forming and re-forming you. And lastly, whether your life is spinning slowly or seemingly spinning out of control, trust that God has not, and will not, ever let go of you!

So, just what is the message? First, you must remain soft and pliable so God can form you and re-form you. Secondly, you can have confidence that God, your Master Potter, always has His hands on you, forming and re-forming you. And lastly, whether your life is spinning slowly or seemingly spinning out of control, trust that God has not, and will not, ever let go of you!