“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words …” Jeremiah 18:2

Nearly two years ago I had the amazing opportunity of visiting the Greek Islands, one of which was the island of Rhodes. Shortly after, I posted this entry about a ceramics studio we visited, and as I have been praying, I felt prompted to post this again today. I hope you enjoy it.

When we visited the Island of Rhodes last month, we stopped in at a ceramics studio and were blessed to watch the process of a potter creating a vase from clay. It was an amazing thing to see. The potter took hold of this mound of clay. It was nothing more than a ball of earth in his hand. He took it, placed it in the centre of his wheel, and the process began. In his expert hands the soft earth was pressed, kneaded, squeezed and then gently pulled both outwards and upwards as a beautiful  vessel began to take form before us.

 With absolute precision and perfect timing the potter worked. He did not waver. He did not take his eyes off the clay for a moment as he laboured with it . In a matter of minutes he had taken a mass of nondescript earth and transformed it into something lovely, useful, purposeful and one of a kind!

God gives us so many wonderful pictures in the Bible of His relationship with us, and in this case, as I watched the potter at work, I naturally thought of the analogy of God as the potter and us, as clay in His hands, to do with as He wills,

‘“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 …”’ Jeremiah 18:6.

I found out a little bit more about the pottery process and it gives even more of an amazing insight to this picture of us as clay. After the ‘required form’ has been shaped in the hands of the potter, the body of clay must go through a process of “firing” so that this change in its form becomes permanent. It is placed in a kiln at high temperature, which induces a reaction in its make up that strengthens the clay and sets the new shape irreversibly.

Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that exactly what God does with us as we allow ourselves to be soft and responsive to Him? He begins to change us into the ‘required form’ of His Son through the prodding of the Holy Spirit and through the conviction of His Word.

For  that change in us to become permanent  and irreversible, God will allow us to go through a process of “firing” where our circumstances and relationships create the necessary pressure to see His Word borne out in our choices and character. The most beautiful thing is, as we come out of the kiln, we are visibly transformed into a greater likeness of His Son, and something lovely and purposeful in His hands.

One other wonderful thing I learnt is shown in this last photo. If you look very closely you can see that the inside of the vessel is made up of a series of tracks or lines. If ever you were to open a vessel and see its inside with these lines ingrained, it would show that the vessel is hand- crafted, one of a kind, and absolutely authentic.

What are these lines? They are the finger prints of the potter himself.

But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And we are the work of Your Hand – Isaiah 64:8

© Copyright 2009 Birgit Whelan