"The Potter's Process"

"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?"  Isaiah 45:9

Yesterday we talked about something I learned at the "potter's house" about how every object is unique and that uniqueness is defined by the way we react to the fire.  This morning I want to share something else that I learned. 

When you and I see a piece of finished pottery, we assume that it was always like that.  Not so.  There is a process that it has to go through in order to become that object. 

First the potter decides what he is going to make.  He takes a big lump of clay, cuts off the amount he wants to use, puts it through a press, and cuts out the image.  If he wants to decorate it he may emboss it with a design.  That design has to be pounded into the clay.  Sometimes the potter will put the object on a wheel and spin it and form it with his hands.  When he gets it to look like he wants it to look, he may need to take a sharp instrument and trim off any excess.  It then has to set for days to dry some.  Next he will  put it in the kiln to fire.  After it comes out, he can glaze/color it and then put it back in the fire.  (I am sure there is more to the process than I have explained-- this was my observation and a quick lesson.)

This brings me to you and me.  We are the clay.  The Lord is the Master Potter who is making something beautiful and of honor out of our lives.  In order for us to get from His decision about what type of vessel He wants us to be and the time we actually "arrive" there  is a process.  It doesn't happen overnight.  It isn't a "quick fix".  It takes time.  It takes work.  It takes yielding to the Potter.  It takes the pounding, the cutting, the molding, the spinning and the fire.  The "potter's wheel" for Joseph was betrayal in his own home, a pit, sold into slavery in Egypt, separation from family, loneliness, false accusation by his master's wife, prison and chains.  But after the process the vessel he was intended to be shone forth.  He was purposed by the Master Potter to be a ruler and saver of His people.  The process brought him to that place.  There are no shortcuts to becoming the vessel the Lord intends for you to be.  It takes a process.  But when the process is finished you will be a beautiful vessel fit for the Master's use.

Have a great day.  There is a process you must go through in order to be and do what the Lord has planned for you.

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
and is sent to you free of charge for the asking from 
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