“The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, ‘Go down to the potter’s shop and I will speak to you there.’ So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay and started over. Then the Lord gave me this message: ‘O Israel, cannot I do to you as the potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so you are you in my hand.” Jeremiah 18:1-6
The potter has total authority over the clay, having the power to mold and shape. He has the power to permit defects to remain in the clay, or he can reshape the pot entirely. As our Creator, God is the one who reshapes and conforms us to His purposes. A simple fact is that as you yield to God He begins reshaping us into valuable vessels.
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’ How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, ‘Why was I born?’ or if it said to its mother, ‘Why did you make me this way?” Isaiah 45:9-10
“And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.” Isaiah 64:8
There is one more scripture I want to share with you. Paul was addressing the Romans, who were very proud and extremely boastful of themselves. He was telling them that they shouldn’t be prideful in their personal achievements, or boast how great and mighty their own strength is…the created has no right to charge or demand anything from its Creator – its very existence depends on Him.
“Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?” Romans 9:20-21