Father potter

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. – Isaiah 64v8

Of course whenever I see this verse I remember the great old hymn by Adelaid A. Pollard. The chorus goes ‘Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mould me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.’  

It is a lovely song of submission to the Master Potter as He shapes and moulds and forms us to His will. When we think about a lump of clay on the master’s will we see the extent of the submission. That lump of clay is pushed and shoved. It is needed and punched. It is pinched and prodded. Chunks are ripped out and thrown to the ground. Moulding surely would not be comfortable from the perspective of the clay.

Yet there is a word of comfort here as well. We are not exactly like that physical lump of clay on the wheel. God is the potter, but He is also our Father.

That changes the picture a bit. Our potter is also our Father. All the shaping and moulding He does is out of love and is designed to form us into the masterpiece He wants us to be. His shaping is with love and compassion. Even when it may not be comfortable we can rest assured that we are being shaped by the One who loves and cherishes us as His child.

Praise God that He is my Father-Potter.