WATCHWORD:
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:6
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? Romans 9:19-21
Meditation:
“Does God Curse Us?”
Recently, a friend asked me, partly in jest, “does God curse us”? I had a ready answer but before I could share it, he said, “You should write a Watchword about that.” I knew he had his share of adversity and was frustrated, but I also knew he had faith. But write a meditation on God’s role in our troubles? Well, it felt like a challenge, so, here goes…
I thought about that question in relation to my own life journey and the few remembered adversities that I struggled through. I say “few remembered adversities” because, even though at the time I thought the sky was falling on me many times, the truth is, I can recall only once when I was truly frustrated with the Lord, and that was during the five-year health decline of the love of my life, until she passed into God’s presence. There may have been other times, but they left no mark no remembrance.
Maybe we should make a distinction between trouble, or in my friend’s words, “curses”, and holy discipline. In Hebrew 12:11, we read For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. If we take this to heart, then we are left with a conclusion that adversity, troubles, curses, or discipline are actually from God, and they are, in the final analysis, blessings.
Mark Farnham writes in Apologetics for the Church, “The problem with this answer for many Christians is they wrestle with how God can be good if he ordains trouble and suffering. A God who ordains and decrees suffering does not seem to be just, loving, compassionate, merciful, good or kind. God is sovereign and whatever he does is good and just, whether we think so or not.
When we embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior, we declare God’s sovereignty and pledge our own submission to Him. That word “submission” sticks in my throat. Is surrender a more acceptable idea? Nah! The metaphor of the Potter and the clay teaches a truth that is hard for many to accept. We don’t like to say that God is responsible for the trouble that enters our lives, but the answer is that God is absolutely responsible for all those elements that we deem as “troubles” or “curses”. That should be a comfort to us, for if God were not in charge, then our lives would be left to chance, and the matter of God’s sovereignty would have no meaning.
Steve Brown shared a thought long ago that has been with me ever since. He reminded us that “God is in control, and He loves us.” That has been the mantra for my family for nearly 20 years. If God is in control, then I’m not, and every minute detail of my life passes through His hands.
So, the answer to my friend’s question is, Yes. God is responsible for all blessings, and for those bits of adversity that frustrate us at times. The ups and the downs, even the mountain of grief and loss, what we may call curses, all are part of God’s master plan for our lives. As animated bits of clay, we can’t see around the bend, and we may be upset by our inability to understand the reason, yet, we have faith and trust in Christ, the Potter. Lord, mold me and make me after Thy will. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
Vernon McGee tells the story of when he was a seminary student traveling from his home in Tennessee to the seminary in Dallas, he always passed a large pottery plant near Arkadelphia, Arkansas. One day he took time out to stop and see pottery being made. He says there were two very impressive, very striking sights that he has not forgotten. Behind this plant was the ugliest patch of mud he had ever seen. It was shapeless and gooey and looked hopeless. Out in front of the plant they had a display room, and in that room were some of the most exquisite vessels he had ever seen.
“We went inside the plant, and we saw many potters at work. There they stood, bent over their wheels, giving their full attention to working with that helpless, hopeless, ugly, mushy messy clay. They were intent on transforming it and translating it into objects of art. The only difference between that mass out back and those lovely vessels in the display room were these potter’s hands, working over their wheels.”
I wonder, without the potter, would we be a work of art or simply a mass of gooey mud?
Let’s Pray – Have Thine Own Way, Lord:
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
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Search me and try me Master today
Whiter than snow Lord wash me just now
As in Thy presence humbly I bow
Have Thine own way Lord
Have Thine own way
Hold over my being absolute sway
Filled with Thy spirit till all can see
Christ only always living in me.
Amen
