“But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand” Isaiah 64:8

There is a thought-provoking analogy, found in scripture, of our relationship to God – He is the Potter and we are the clay. From one perspective, it is the uncomfortable place of a complete and total loss of control. That painful place where I lay down my rights in full submission to God’s will. Yet on the other hand, there is safety and security to be found as I surrender my life into the “gloveless hands” of the Master.

Below is a poem written by Paula Oosthuizen which beautifully captures this dichotomous relationship between the Potter and His Clay.

In the Potter’s Hands…

The Potter’s wheel is ready, as His hands place me in the centre;

The choice is mine to stay or to go off balance and fight the hands of my Creator.

He slowly starts to press down, and the discomfort is unpleasant;

But to become more like Him, how could I not consent.

His gentle hands surround me as the world spins me around;

It’s His hands that keep me steady, so that I do not crumble to the ground.

Painful yet secure, a sudden peace fills my heart;

In the Potter’s hands, I feel a new life about to start.

I feel myself being pulled up and widened, done with expertise;

He knows exactly what He is doing and He does it with such ease.

He holds me up and shapes me, until I am what He wants me to be;

And at times He removes bits and pieces that should not be a part of me.

To get that perfect shape, He sometimes has to press quite hard;

But I feel the support of His hands all around me, never off-guard.

It is sometimes a painful process, but I know that it is for my good;

Because in the Potter’s hands, I become everything that I should.

I can feel His love for me in the security of His big, strong hands;

And I know that He is shaping me to fulfill His predestined plans.

If He did not love me, He would never have put me on the Potter’s wheel;

And with every bit of pressure He exerts, it is His love that I feel.

In these still moments with my Creator, I sense His passion and His drive;

 Excitement starts to mount as the creation He envisioned comes alive.

Gloveless hands at work, leaving His fingerprints all over me;

In my Potter’s hands, I belong to Him completely.

Like a shelter of protection, His hands are always there;

And I know that if I fall apart, they are ready to repair.

Painful and scary to be moulded, but how much worse would it be;

If my Potter’s hands were no longer there for me.

Forever grateful am I, for His hands that never go away;

And so humbled at His love for this simple piece of clay.

Clay is all I would have ever been, if His hands had never chosen me;

But in the Potter’s hands, there is so much more that I can be

Once the shaping is done, the clay and wheel must separate;

To be set apart from the world, is His desire for every Christian’s fate.

Sometimes the clay goes through a firing process of extreme heat and pain;

In order to prevent the clay from breaking or returning to mud again.

The Christian life is difficult, do not be deceived;

But I cannot imagine where I would be if I had never believed.

Truth is, pain is unavoidable in life, whether you are Christian or not;

But personally, I would rather be in my Potter’s hands when things really get hot.