Have you ever heard the saying “we are shaped by our experiences?” The inference is that “who we are” is a result of “what happens to us” in our lives. Although there is truth in that saying, I prefer to look at it a different way. I don’t think it is just coincidence that Jeremiah refers to God as a POTTER. Jeremiah 18:6 says, “Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand.” God is the One who is shaping us. I am not shaped by my past, by my hurt, by my pain, or by my circumstances. No, I am being shaped by God. He has me on His potter’s wheel. It is the pressure from His Hands that forms me. If you look close enough you will see His fingerprints on me – the fingerprints are still fresh because the job is not completed. Hardened clay cannot be molded. It must stay soft and pliable for the Potter to work with it.
“Lord God, keep me soft and pliable so You can shape me into the vessel You desire me to be. Do not let me get hard and brittle because of past hurts and experiences. Keep me on Your wheel. Spin me, turn me around, apply Your pressure…. SHAPE ME!”
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
