He's Still Working: The Potter, The Clay, and The Process

Today we tend to like finished products. We look for it in almost every aspect of our lives.

If we have been a part of the construction of anything we know how we become impatient in seeing its completion.

We struggle with the process and in most cases our frustration is in that we do not understand the plan.

Israel as a nation is in rebellion as the people of God. His chosen special ones.*

God wishes to communicate to them in a way that they would understand, that regardless of all they have done, their failings and their rebellion that “He Still Working”.

He send the prophet to a place where he can receive the most accurate object lesson in human experience of what God is up to.

It is a message of Hope, a message that would convey His commitment to them and that what He has in mind for them to become.*

It is not easy to shape a human. The chorus says “It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars, how loving a patient He must be cause He’s still working on me”

We must know who we are in this entire engagement.

Two characters one desire

The Potter who has control of the plan.
The Clay that has control of the process

1. The Plan

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Every potter has a plan. He may not be able to articulate it in very descriptive terms but it is His vision.
The plan is not the desire of the clay but the one who is fashioning it.

2. The Process.

James 1:2-4 KJVS “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; [3] Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. [4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

It’s a patient game of wait and see.
The piece of clay is selected from a larger lump.
That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

The clay is soaked
in water to extract air bubbles.

Ephesians 5:26 KJVS “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,”

The clay is slapped
violently to remove foreign bodies in it.
The clay is spun
on the wheel where it has no control of it self.
The clay is shaped
by the strong hand of the potter until what He has in His mind is manifested in that clay.
The clay that is shaped is subjected to fire.
The clay is decorated in the potter’s own fashion
The clay is consecrated for use as a trusted vessel

3. The Problem. Vs 4.

The Clay is uncooperative
Lack of obedience deforms the vessel
The process must start over because He would not display what does not meet His approval.

Why all this process?

That vessel is a reflection of the potter
That vessel is representation of the potter
That vessel is a receptacle of grace
That vessel must be resilient in hardship

He is prepared to go through the same process over and over until we become who He wants us to be.
He has the vision for our lives beyond what we can imagine but we must trust the process and not be distracted by other vessels who are under process as well.
We waste time resisting the process and risk never becoming what He desires us to be.
Every vessel is unique. Psalm 139:14-18