In The Potter’s Hands

Written by Leena Oni

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! (Jeremiah 18:1-4, 6)

The Bible often talks about people being clay in the hands of God, a master potter:

God created us to be useful.

In Bible times most dishes were made of clay for various purposes.

God’s hands shape us into Christ’s image.

Our Heavenly Father uses things we experience and encounter as tools to deepen our faith, to develop perseverance within us and make us containers of His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A long time ago, I was trained as a potter. I remember learning some profound things about this profession that helped me understand why the image of potter and clay is used so much in the Bible about God and us.

Before he begins, the potter has a specific plan of what kind of dish he wants to make. The clay has no say in that. It doesn’t ask the potter: why did you make me like this?

Before the potter starts shaping the clay he needs to get rid of any air bubbles in the clay. This is a long and painstaking process of kneading the clay. If not done properly, the bubbles can make the clay explode in the kiln and cause unsightly bumps in the dish.

Next, the potter places the clay in the middle of the wheel and starts shaping it. If the dish fails to form properly, it’s thrown back into the bucket to be kneaded again.

Once the dish is ready, a very important phase starts: drying on the shelf. If there is any moisture in the clay when put in the hot kiln, it will explode. Sometimes we may feel like God has forgotten us on the shelf, but He hasn’t. This is an important phase in our development.

Sometimes, in the heat of the kiln or afterwords the clay dish breaks. We may believe that we are unusable or even unredeemable. Our problems are often of our own making. But when we bring our sin and brokenness to the Lord and surrender to Him, He takes it away and can mould us into a vessel that glorifies Him.

The broken pieces are not thrown away by the Potter. They are used to make the strongest type of pots when the ground, broken pots are mixed with a fresh clay. Isn’t this amazing? 

We are safe in the Potter’s hands.