Made in the Hand of God

 

Jeremiah 18:4- "But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make" (NASB).

Most of us have regrets of some kind. Usually our regrets are nothing more than the continuation of our journey into new things. I have known my share of regrets. One of the biggest ones came years ago when I left ministry after an unexpected divorce. I still struggle with that decision today. 

I am reading a book called "Art + Faith: A Theology of Making" by Makoto Fujimura. The author challenges us to refocus our attention on the creation of God as his work over our usefulness for God as our work. When we focus on our usefulness, or the lack thereof, we make God out to be utilitarian. We strive to know his purpose for our lives. We pray to be used by God. I know since I made the decision to leave formal ministry many years ago I have prayed many times to be used by God again. Fujimura's book challenged me to turn my attention to what God is creating in me as opposed to how God may use me. 

Jeremiah 18 speaks to the beauty of formation more than the usefulness of purpose. However, it is easy to interpret Jeremiah 18:4 as a statement of usefulness. The image does depict us as a vessel with a potentially useful purpose. As I reexamined this scripture, though, I noticed an important detail. Even before the clay was spoiled, it was already "in the hand of the potter." Our purpose is found in his hand. We experience usefulness in the formation that occurs from being held. I realized that God is creating something in me as opposed to shaping a tool out of me. My place in this world is to be in the hand of God. My purpose is to be formed by him. It is the process of making me that brings joy to the Potter, and it is joy to simply experience his formation. Joy not to be used, but to be formed. 

I have caught myself making even the idea of God's formation process about him correcting what I had messed up. However, spiritual formation is about what he has purposed to do as opposed to what I can accomplish for him. The key phrase of Jeremiah 18:4 is, "as it pleased the potter to make." The process of formation is about the sovereign choice of God to do the making. It is not about our usefulness, our mistakes, or regrets. The process of making is about what he has lovingly decided to make out of formless lumps of clay. 

One lump of clay in the stories of Jesus found this out. No character in the New Testament illustrates the promise of new creations better than Simon Peter. Look at Jesus' first call of the fisherman. "And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19, ESV). There was a making process at work in Simon. Even when Peter later denied him three times, it took Jesus' corrective moment to continue the formation of what God had purposed for him. The fisherman was already being formed in the hand of God when this lump of clay was spoiled by the three denials. 

Making him into a fisher of men was not about God's use of Peter but about God's making of him. It was not about Peter's purpose. It was about the process of making something out of this lump of clay. Peter's purpose, then, was not found in preaching the gospel. Peter knew his purpose was to rest in the hand of the One who made him to be something he could not be apart from God's creative hand. His purpose was about being formed. 

Notice how Peter reflected about his original call. Likening his own example to the one left by the Lord, Peter concluded that Jesus "entrusted himself" to the Father. The idea of Peter following his Lord's example to entrust himself to Jesus conveyed the same idea as when Jesus said he would be "delivered over into the hands of men" (Matthew 17:22). Peter, in essence, saw himself as having been placed into the hands of God to become what he could not be apart from the work of God.

So look at Jeremiah 18:4 again. Is it possible we make everything about us? For this promise, we lose the promise in the regret. We see the spoiling and not the making. We fixate on what this verse says about our usefulness, or lack thereof, more than what it says about the Maker. The point of this analogy is not only about the plight of Israel, but about the sovereignty of God enacted in the making. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel" (Jeremiah 18:6). The best place for a rebellious Israel to be was in the hand of the perfectly loving and just God; for even in their rebellion their formation continued. 

Do we have regrets? Sure. Will we continue to rebel? Unfortunately so. Our formation, though, continues in his hand when regrets keep us awake at night. He makes us even in our rebellion. So we rest in the hand of God. We're made by the hand of God. We are purposed for the hand of God. We are formed in the hand of God. We have been chosen to be formed in the hand of God that could never be apart from his making. 

Click this link to find out more about the influence of grace from my new book "Living Under the Influence: How Grace Sets Us Free from the Performance Mindset." Click this link to visit my author's website.