Clay Pots with a Choice

God is the process of forming us into the likeness of Jesus. It is a collaboration though. We can actually chose to work against what God wants to accomplish. When that happens, he decides on a different outcome for us and begins to shape our lives accordingly.

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!

Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!

Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’

Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’

Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’” - Isaiah 45:9-10

From my perspective as a clay pot, I do not understand what God is forming me into it. Many times, I have been angry and discouraged because I felt that my life was less than what I had hoped for. Yet, I am a clay pot in process. I cannot see the final product. Galatians 6 tells me that I will reap a good harvest but only if I do not lose heart. This process requires patience.

A few years, I dreamed of a small vegetable garden. I had been tending this garden of mine for a period of time. It was my custom to identify defects on the plants and to remove those defects. This particular time, I noticed that I had missed cutting away some defects on a plant. To my surprise, I saw that I now had fruit growing on that plant! All along, I had been cutting away immature fruit because I believed that it was a defect that I needed to rid myself of.

As I looked for Bible verses that speak about the relationship between the Potter and the clay, I was reminded of how crucial it is that we respond quickly to God. He works in us “to will and to do”. Oftentimes, he will work in us in a way that does not seem "spiritual", and he will lead us on a path that we would not have picked for ourselves. He can be trusted, but he will not demand that we trust him. God is amazing in the way that he has chosen us to be his workmanship and yet given us the ability to effectively decline him and to cause him to take an alternate path. I want to be sensitive to his heart, so I can work humbly with the Potter.