Yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. Isaiah 64:8
We seek control of our own destiny. We want to shape our future and often the lives of those around us. We forget the Creator and arrogate that role to ourselves.
In Jeremiah’s time Judah likewise was headed away from God and toward gods of human making. So God sends Jeremiah to the potter’s house to observe the potter shaping the clay on his wheel. He takes a marred piece of clay and totally reshapes it into a new pot. Unless Judah repents, Jeremiah cries, she will be destroyed like this clay pot and another nation fashioned in her place. Strong words of divine judgment on sin!
Isaiah offers a beautiful prayer on the other side of God’s judgment. A repentant Judah in exile will pray, “Yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.” Willing to let God shape her, God’s people will return home to rebuild.
God, who formed man from the dust of the ground, would also send His own Son in human form. Begotten of the Father from eternity, Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience and even yielded to death on the cross. Because of Jesus’ death, we are now perfect in God’s eyes. He also desires to make us a new creation in Christ and to mold us according to His will. He wants to use us in His service. He continues shaping and reshaping us, Removing the blemishes and rough spots. By His grace, He continues to make us what in His eyes we already are.
PRAYER: “Yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.” Amen.
(Devotions from “My Daily Devotion” by Dr. Stephen J. Carter, copyright 1988 CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For ordering information, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit www.cph.org.)
Today's Bible Readings: Isaiah 47-49 Romans 9:1-15
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