During last week's Moms in Prayer group meeting, we praised
God the Potter using Isaiah 64:8 and Jeremiah 18:1-10.
As I was preparing the Prayer Sheet beforehand, I researched
online and came across several interesting articles about pottery.
Given what I read in the articles, there is much to making a
pot. And each step a potter takes is important in the process.
First, the potter imagines what type of pot to make, i.e.
purpose, size, shape, color. Then, a method is chosen for making that pot. He
might use the wheel, twist the clay by hand, or use clay "strings" to
be coiled together. Then he begins with clay in hand.
Water is constantly added during the slow, steady process of
molding, shaping, and even pruning the clay to bring about its fullest
potential. All the while, the potter never takes his eyes off the pot.
After that, comes the drying out process and the kiln where
high temperature hardens the clay. When the pot is cooled, it is painted and
covered with a clear glaze. The pot, then, is reheated to seal the glaze. When
it cools, the potter files the bottom a bit so it will stand without wobbling.
After all this, the potter stands back and admires his work.
All in all, from the pot's point of view, it is a lengthy
and troubling process.
Perhaps the reason God sent Jeremiah to the local potter was
to give him a visual picture to bring to life the words he would be charged to
speak to the people of Israel. Jeremiah could cling to this picture in his
heart. For
the most part, Jeremiah's kinsmen were out for themselves, living in violence
and idolatry. No one seemed to care. AND, the Lord was speaking words of
judgment.
Yet, the Lord wanted to remind Jeremiah of His mercy and
compassion to do what it takes to make a ruined pot whole again. His Word, the
Word Jeremiah kept bringing to the people of Israel, was meant to wash them
while with compassion, then, God would transform those pots loose to His
shaping. His great purpose was, and still is, to bring His people back to Him,
just as He tells us in Jeremiah 18:11.
As praying moms, we sometimes need a reminder that it is the
Lord's hand that is shaping our children. The shaping of a pot is a process. In
God's mercy as we keep our prayers before His face, He will do the work of the
Potter. He will even take a ruined pot and make it good again. We must never
give up.
"Whenever a clay
pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the
way he wanted to make it." Jeremiah 18:4 (GW)
As clay in the potter's hands, so are our children in the
hands of our God, the Potter!
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