Power of the Clay

Excerpts from J Vernon McGee

Don't speak disparagingly of the clay! It has marvelous capacity and resilience. This is what the Potter wants--clay. He doesn't want steel. He doesn't want oil. He doesn't want rock. He wants clay. He wants something that He can put in His hand to mold and fashion. This is the stuff He is after--clay. God wants to work with human beings.

The clay on the wheel down at the potter's house has no will. I do! That clay cannot cooperate with the potter. I can! Man today has free will, and he can exercise it. We can cooperate with the Potter.

I do not believe that life's big decisions are made in a church sanctuary. I believe they are made out in the work-a-day world--in the office, in the school, in the workshop, at the crossroads of life--there is where the Potter is working with the clay.

Now I want to ask the Potter a question. What's your purpose in putting me on the potter's wheel? Why do You bear down on me? Why do You keep working with me? Why, Potter, do
You do this? What are You after?

Well, I go back to the potter's house. Follow me now very carefully. I do not discover the purpose, but I learn something more important than the purpose for my life. I learn that the potter has a purpose, which is more important to know.

I watch the potter there. He is serious. He means business. He's not playing with the clay. This is his work. He is giving his time, his talents, his ability to working with the clay.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Jeremiah 18:3-4

This tells me that God is not playing with me today. He is not experimenting with us. He has purpose. And friend, that comforts me. The Potter has a purpose!

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. I John 3:2

That's going to be a fair morning. And God will be vindicated--He was not being cruel when He caused us to suffer. Someday, some glorious someday, we'll see that the Potter had a purpose in your life and in mine.

In the ages to come we'll be a demonstration, and we'll be yonder on display. We will reveal what the Potter can do with lifeless clay. He gets the glory. It will be wonderful to be a vessel in the Master's hand!