WE ARE CLAY

 

Jeremiah 18:1  This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2  "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3  So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4  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.

Clay is a very common material.  It is available all over the world and can be dug up – once you have removed the thin layer of fertile soil.  The main elements of clay are Aluminium, Silica and water.  There are other trace elements, such as iron oxide, that give some clay a distinct colour.  So, in the same way that we read that Man was made from the “dust” of the earth – so a pot is made from the “dust” of the earth.

When I learned to make things from clay I also learned that it is not profitable to use clay straight from the ground.  Such clay – even when well moistened, could not be modelled and would crack and warp when dry.  And firing would usually produce an explosion and production of a thousand tiny fragments.  Clay needs time and preparation before it is suitable for the Potter!  In Japan a Potter would dig up clay and leave to weather and break up for his son to use!  So a generation of preparation.  Even then the clay would need soaking and sieving before being dried a bit from its very wet and sloppy state (slurry).  After this the clay undergoes a process called wedging.  This is a vigorous kneading, or treading, or slamming together that removes unevenness, air bubbles and foreign matter.  Only after all this preparation does a Potter use the clay to make a vessel.

So, if we take the analogy seriously, God will not make us into a vessel until we have undergone some serious preparation.  You might also consider the fact that clay experiences the natural elements of rain and frost to break it down before it is brought into the Potter’s House and prepared for the Potter’s Wheel.

We might draw out of this that life’s experiences will prepare us to receive God’s Word, accept his Spirit; rather as the broken down clay is able to receive water into its very substance.  Only then can the clay be brought into the Potter’s House.  This might be compared with being saved or redeemed.  After this, a lump of clay can be prepared and refined until it is ready to be made into a vessel.

Jeremiah’s visit to the Potter’s House taught an amazing lesson about the Grace of God. A vessel was being made on the Wheel.  As the expert Potter worked something happened in the clay and it was spoiled.  The Potter did not throw that lump of clay outside!  Instead he re-mixed it on the Wheel and re-worked it into another vessel.  Let us not feel useless or that we have completely ruined all opportunity for God to make us into a vessel for his glory.  While we are clay in his hand he is able to re-work us and re-shape us.  The challenge is simply about being submissive to his hands.