God the Potter
By Charity Vetter
Clay is a unique medium for art. Many people through the centuries have enjoyed the feeling of the soft mud-like substance touching their fingertips. Because clay is so shapeable, a person can create just about anything with it: pots, animals, bowls, cups, plates, vases, and faces. Just as people can mold clay into almost anything, so can God can mold our hearts to be pleasing in His sight. If we let the Master Sculptor sculpt our lives, He can mold our past, present, and future experiences into something beautiful. Though we may question His work, the end result can be exquisite.
Everyone has parts of their past that are painful, and everyone wishes at some point or another to erase bad memories. We want to cover up our sad situations and erase our unsightly experiences. But just as everyone who has sculpted knows, many times a bad mistake can be beautiful in itself. For example, when I made a hand-made vase in a pottery class, the glaze turned out to have a blotched look on the top. At first I thought it was strange and that I should re-glaze it, but in light of my teacher's delighted comments, I decided that my vase was beautiful in itself. It was unique and special. A simple mistake turned out to be a very good thing. Similarly, our bad and painful experiences in the past can be turned into something good and useful. God can use our hardships for his glory. Isaiah 43: 18-19 says: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
Trusting that God is the ultimate potter of our lives can also help us deal with difficult experiences now. When we feel we can't handle our lives by ourselves and when we feel depressed and can't control what happens to us, we must remember that God knows how He is sculpting us. He understands; He is God. Psalm 56:4 says: "In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" Even though it hurts when He changes the shape of our lives, He understands and cares deeply about us.