moulded

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 

(Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)

Since beginning the internship in York, I have been going through some challenges and trials. I have very little patience when it comes to these trials (something God is teaching me to let go of) and the Lord has been teaching me more and more that I need to let him do his work. In Isaiah 45 the Lord is warning the people to be careful that they do not judge the Lord for judging according to His divine Will. In verse 9 it warns, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? (Isaiah 45:9 ESV). He warns them that they should let the Lord do the work in them, a pot does not will itself into existence that would just be a discombobulating thing to witness. No the Clay pot is moulded into a beautiful, useful pot. In Romans 9, Paul reiterates the question when he says:

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is moulded say to its moulder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honourable use and another for dishonourable use? (Romans 9:19-21 ESV)

Paul here adds to the question that Isaiah asked and asks has the potter no right over the clay? The potter has the control over the clay the clay cannot do anything except let the potter do his will. Ray Steadman said it this way in his commentary on Jeremiah 18;

Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter's hand. That wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter, for it is the potter's foot that guides the wheel. The lesson is clear. As our life is being shaped and moulded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance, what Browning called "this dance of plastic circumstance", which bring us again and again under the potter's hand, under the pressure of the moulding fingers of the Potter, so that he shapes the vessel according to his will. (Steadman, Jeremiah commentary)

I have been learning to give in to my stubborn self-will and to let go of the prideful attitude I have towards the will of God is my life. When I finally gave in I realised that the pressure on the clay, if you will, was lifted a little and the smooth movements on the clay as the wheel turned helped the moulding to be smoother and better as the wheel turned and the potters hand smoothed the clay and pressed against the clay, the vessel was shaped according to the image in the potter's mind. I have given my life over to God to mould me, I have become a new creation, the new vessel made out of the old marred clay, (1 Corinthians 5:17).

Jeremiah when visiting the potters house in Jeremiah 18 learnt a few truths, first that God was in control, second of all that we are the clay, and thirdly that we the clay are being moulded into the masterpieces that God has intended for us. He has a different design for each one of us. We have to learn to let God in and let him do the work that he has set in his mind. Steadman again makes a great comment,

“If you do not resist, if your will does not spoil the work by murmuring, grumbling, or complaining, or feeling resentful and bitter, but you accept the working of the Potter, then the pressure is relieved, and the vessel takes shape. But if there is resistance, if the human will, like some imperfection in the clay, chooses something other than the Potter has in mind, then the Potter can do nothing else but crush it down to a lump once again and, beginning with the same lump, make it over into a vessel which suits his heart and mind. The great lesson Jeremiah learned at the potter's house was that of the sovereign control of God. He is the potter, and we are the clay.” 

I am sure that you have heard this terminology so many times, I know I had, and so when I had read this and spent time letting the word be chowed the Lord spoke so clearly to me. He told me that I am now his and he is moulding me into his “Poema” his masterpiece. I had been holding onto part of my past that was causing the clay to be marred and so the “potter” was putting pressure on the clay so that I would let go and let the moulding be done according to the will of the Lord. I had been pondering over this passage and was praising God for his marvellous design and detail in my life, when the passage at the top of the post came to mind. I had read it before but had not really thought much about it.

I read over this passage and chowed the cud as Spurgeon said, and this is what I got from these two verses. The Lord our God has given us a heart of flesh, we had hardened our heart and had become hard to the ways of God, yet the Lord softened our hearts and to aid us in that change he also put the spirit within us. This in itself is a beautiful example of God fulfilling the new covenant. The spirit will guide us to walk in the way he has planned for us. The end of verse 27 says, “… and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”(Ezekiel 36:27 ESV) I had this even greater desire to bring Glory to God this morning when I read this and applied it to my heart. I am so thankful for the work of God in my Life. I am so thankful for the fact that he sends us his helper, the Holy Spirit, to do the most amazing work in me and through me. I am excited to become closer and closer with God as I was with him and learn from the great and mighty potter.

Examine your heart today, have you been holding onto things in your life that cause the clay to be marred, are you letting the potter mould you into his Poema or is you stubborn self-will holding you back from the great plan and great story that God has you to be part of. When you feel that pressure and those trials and challenges, don’t moan and grumble at them but rejoice that the Lord is pressing and moulding and you will become this masterpiece he has in his mind for us. Remember that the Potter has a purpose in mind, and the skill and ability to fulfil it, no matter how many times he may have to make the vessel over again.

Grace and Peace

Richard