The Potter And The Clay

The Potter and the Clay

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father we are the clay, and you are our potter we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

What is that verse saying?

Jesus taught us to pray: "Our Father, who art in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9) The Lord, God Almighty, is our Father! Behind this simple statement lies the foundation for the hope that each of His children hold deep in their heart: we shall not perish, but have everlasting life because Father God paid the ultimate price for our unending life. (John 3:16)

God the Father loves His children. In Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son, God showed all of His children, that includes you & me, that He loves us with an unimaginable amount of love. Our Savior paid that ultimate price to demonstrate the magnitude & the quality of His love! Yes, it is a great revelation & a great privilege to call our All-Powerful Lord God, "Father."

As we direct our thoughts today about the absolute fact that our God is also our "Father," let us take a moment to affirm in our own minds that our God, who is in heaven, is also our own, personal Father! If it is true to you, that in your own relationship with Christ God is your loving Father, then say the words to yourself silently in your mind: "God is my Father."

The apostle John also wrote that those who believe in & have faith in Christ are God’s children. John 1:12 tells us, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” We are God’s children!

If in your heart you know the Father, then strengthen your faith in your own mind & say the words to yourself: "God is my Father."

Think about that. "God is my Father!" What a blessing that is!

Don’t most parents want to shape, or mold, their children into the people they want them to be? Parents want their children to be people with righteous Christian personalities & characteristics. The parent is the potter molding the children as the clay.

Now let’s dig into this message. Here we find the meat & potatoes of what it means that we are the children of the Infinite Almighty God. We are putty in the hands of the only One qualified to shape us into who we know we should be! Our destiny is held in the hands of our Creator! He is the potter & we are the clay. Were we the ones who formed ourselves in our mother's womb? No, it was Father God. Were we the ones who gave us talents, wit, emotions, & resources? No, it was our Father God. We are not the ones who directed our circumstances, our experiences, & the details of our relationships to this point in our lives. It was our Father God. Father God is the One who sustains us & guides us & provides for us every day. We cannot do these things for ourselves! He is the potter. We are a hopeless lump of clay when it comes to our own origin, our own destiny, & our own eternity. He is the Potter & we are the clay.

Give out Play-Doh (I give jars of Play-Doh to the residents as an illustration of the Potter-Clay relationship. They will mold this "clay" into what they desire)

We are the work of His hands! Look at your hands. That's right, look at your own hands. What have your hands made, what have your hands done that could have possibly made God irrelevant & unnecessary in your life? Nothing. It is God's hands that we yield to for our origin, our destiny & our very being! God gave you the creative ability to make what you just made out of the Play-Doh clay.

Let us as His trusting, obedient children, soft & moldable clay in His hands, raise our hearts to Him for His fashioning, for His molding, & for His loving care! We can trust Him. What He does in your life, the circumstances He leads you to, the experiences He allows you to enjoy...or endure...are all there to mold, guide, correct, & encourage. God loves you! We don’t need to fight to make everything & everyone around us be what we want them to be. We need not try to always have our own way. We can rest, we can trust, & we can rely on the hands of the Potter...for we are only clay. We are happiest, we are the most fulfilled, & we are the most productive when we surrender our selfish interests & let God have His own way.

Share story about how God remolded me to be the evangelist I am today. And ask the group for examples of ways our Heavenly Father molded them into the people they became.