Jeremiah 18:3-4
“So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.”
“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 again and started over.”
God tells Jeremiah to go to the potter’s workshop. I took a pottery class in college. To begin, a lump of clay is softened by kneading and then placed on the wheel. The potter’s hands tighten around it as the wheel spins until it is centered. Then pot shaping takes place. The clay undergoes considerable force and realignment. God represents himself as the potter. If I am clay in his hands, I too will undergo painful and disorienting force, but it will be worthwhile. I will be made new along the axis of God’s purpose, beautiful in form and function.
Lord, make me beautiful in form and function, willing to endure whatever your shaping brings into my life. You are my trustworthy creator. I am your servant. Train and shape me as you see fit.