As the old hymn goes:
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
This hymn was written more than a century ago, leaving us with the question: Can we still find “the Potter’s House” today? Or will we decide to ignore God’s map for us?
First we need to make a right turn. A word that appears repeatedly in this passage from Jeremiah is “turn.” God speaks of a nation that “turns from its evil” (v. 8) and calls for Israel to “Turn now, all of you from your evil way” (v. 11). God also says that “I will change my mind” about a nation that turns from its evil (v. 8), and “I will change my mind” about a nation that turns toward evil (v. 10). This language of turning and changing is the language of molding and making. Nothing is fixed, everything is changing.
Second: When you get there, allow the potter to work with your clay as he chooses. Don’t worry about what shape you are in now; the potter can reshape you. Don’t fixate on the flaws of the past; the potter can purify you. Don’t stress about wrong turns you’ve made in the past; the potter can help you move in a new direction.
In the Potter’s House, you are ever-changing clay in the divine potter’s hand.
Allow the divine potter to make you and mold you, according to his will. Open yourself to being filled with the Holy Spirit, until — as the old hymn says — all shall see “Christ only, always, living in me.”
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
This hymn was written more than a century ago, leaving us with the question: Can we still find “the Potter’s House” today? Or will we decide to ignore God’s map for us?
First we need to make a right turn. A word that appears repeatedly in this passage from Jeremiah is “turn.” God speaks of a nation that “turns from its evil” (v. 8) and calls for Israel to “Turn now, all of you from your evil way” (v. 11). God also says that “I will change my mind” about a nation that turns from its evil (v. 8), and “I will change my mind” about a nation that turns toward evil (v. 10). This language of turning and changing is the language of molding and making. Nothing is fixed, everything is changing.
Second: When you get there, allow the potter to work with your clay as he chooses. Don’t worry about what shape you are in now; the potter can reshape you. Don’t fixate on the flaws of the past; the potter can purify you. Don’t stress about wrong turns you’ve made in the past; the potter can help you move in a new direction.
In the Potter’s House, you are ever-changing clay in the divine potter’s hand.
Allow the divine potter to make you and mold you, according to his will. Open yourself to being filled with the Holy Spirit, until — as the old hymn says — all shall see “Christ only, always, living in me.”
Jeremiah 18:1-11
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