Mold Me And Make Me

There is a well-known hymn entitled, “Have Thine Own Way.” The first line of this hymn says, “Have Thine own way, Lord! . . . Thou art the potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”(1) When Adelaide Pollard wrote the words to this hymn she was speaking of the biblical imagery of God as the Potter, which is used many times throughout the Scripture.

The prophet Isaiah used the imagery of the potter to stress God’s sovereignty. For example, Isaiah 29:16 says, “Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me?’ Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding?’” Isaiah was saying that people have no perception of the ways of God, and to question Him is foolish, for we are just weak and fragile vessels.

In Romans 9:21 Paul used the imagery of the potter when people were complaining that God is unjust. He asked, “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” Paul was saying, “Who are we to question God? He can do whatever He wants with our lives!” Bill Cosby used to tell his children, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!” and some of us need to understand that God, as our heavenly Father, has the authority to do the same; and we need to respect Him.

In our passage this evening, we are going to look at how Jeremiah used the imagery of God as the potter, as he was trying to communicate the Lord’s sovereignty concerning our lives. Let’s see what God led Jeremiah to share with the people of Judah, or southern Israel, and let’s try to apply it to our lives today.

Imagery of the Potter (vv. 1-4)

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. 4 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.

Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house as the Lord commanded him, and while he was there he saw a potter spinning his wheel and molding a piece of clay. The potter’s wheel in that day and time was actually two wheels linked together by a pedestal. The potter would spin the bottom wheel with his feet, while the clay spun on the upper wheel to be shaped by his hands.

Jeremiah was in awe as he watched the potter fashion a piece of clay. He saw the potter’s fingers glide along the slippery clay, shaping and molding it with the slightest touch. The potter only had to touch the tip of his finger against the clay, and its shape would be changed. Jeremiah said that the clay was marred in the potter’s hand and he made it again into another vessel that pleased him. If a potter is displeased with the shape of the clay he is molding, all he has to do is squash it flat and start over again. Jeremiah realized that this is a picture of our lives. Our lives are as fragile as wet clay in the hands of a potter, and the Lord has the ability to reshape our lives.

The potter uses several implements, or tools, to bring the clay to a place where it is usable:

First he uses a shovel. This is the tool he uses to dig the clay from the earth. This is a picture of the Spirit of God who comes to where we are in sin and speaks to us in convicting power and draws us to Jesus.(2)

Secondly he uses a mallet. After the clay has been cleansed and processed, it is laid on a table and beaten with a wooden mallet. The potter does this to remove any air bubbles that might be trapped in the clay. If he doesn’t, the air bubble will form a pocket that will produce a weak spot and cause the vessel to be fragile and unusable. This is a picture of the trials . . . and chastisements of life that tend to work together to shape us in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.(3)

Thirdly he uses the wheel. Jeremiah saw the wheel turning constantly, bringing the clay against the potter’s hand. The wheel stands for the turning circumstances of our life, under the control of the Potter . . . As our life is being shaped and molded by the Great Potter, it is the circumstances of our life, the wheels of circumstance . . . which bring us again and again under the Potter’s hand, under the pressure of [His] molding fingers.(4)