fallen on the potters wheel.

I was talking to God this morning and explaining how I felt. Things dont always turn out as you imagined or expected. But what I do beyond that is down to me. He gave me a picture of a potters wheel, a man making a beautiful vase, but it slipped on the wheel and wobbled out of shape, until the beauty had disappeared. It was not only a poor sight to look at, but its function and use as a vessel had also been taken away. It could not carry or hold any water or wine. As I looked at this broken lump of clay God spoke to my heart. "You are this broken lump, things have shaken you out of shape and disappointment has left you flat. But you have a choice, You can recreate another vase, or you can remain broken. Who knows, maybe the second attempt will look even greater than the first? Perhaps you will be glad that you fell flat, so that the next vase could emerge? Will you get back on the potters wheel and start again? For I can only fill empty vessels, I can not fill lumps of broken clay. ♥'
Perhaps you are facing a new start, a beginning, a new day, Do you feel afraid to start again? Trust in God. He has never forsaken you. He is always willing to meet you at your point of need.

 

The potters hardest project.

The great potter fashions his own son.

The rugged hands held the lump of clay tenderly.  Sadness filled the potters eyes. He paused before He began His work today.

His thumb dug deep into the pliable shape.  He let out a deep sigh, almost a groan and then He began.  “He will grow up before them like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.”

His words began to bring focus to his work. “He will have no beauty or majesty to attract them to him,” he continued, reaching out for a rough piece of twig to dig into the clay and create the contours of a man’s face.

“Nothing in his appearance that they should desire him.” He paused. Grief filled His eyes as he looked down at his work. A gentle nod of satisfaction followed before He continued,  “He will be despised and rejected by mankind” As these words escaped His lips He turned and looked over his shoulder. Not far off, there stood Jesus, full of kindness and gentleness, full of compassion and love for the world. He was perfect in every way and yet He would soon take on this rugged form and join with them, in the darkness, the sin and the stench.

The potter returned his sights to the clay face before Him. He opened his mouth to speak more words. The pain in His voice was tangible. The words fell from His tongue, strained, bitten and painful to speak. “He will be a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. 
Like one from whom people hide their faces, 
He will be despised, and they will hold him in low esteem.” His eyes trailed off the clay and a tear ran down his cheek. The salty taste reached his lip and he wiped His brow. “ My Son.. Surely You will take up their pain and bare their suffering, You will be pierced for their transgressions, You will be  crushed for their iniquities; the punishment that will bring them peace will be upon You.”

The potter pulled away from the clay, the pain in His own heart was too much. It gripped him. He saw the images before Him of Jesus being brutally beaten and mocked. He saw the hatred in their eyes as they kicked Him and placed a crown of piercing thorns on his head. “ My Son.” He bit his lip in an attempt to compose Himself as a gentle hand reached for His shoulder and held it. “Father.”

The potter turned,  Jesus was standing behind him, with his gaze so bright, he was shining brighter than the sun, He radiated warmth and love. He was majestic and beautiful and the potter was overwhelmed. “Father, this is your will. Let it be done, for by my wounds, they will be healed. For they are like sheep, gone astray, they have turned to their own ways. You will lay their iniquity upon me. Yes, I will be oppressed and afflicted, yet I will not open my mouth; 
I will be led like a lamb to the slaughter, 
and as a sheep before its shearers I will be silent.
”

Jesus’ eyes brought reassurance back to his Father, “My Son, Greater love has no one than this, than to be willing to give up their life, so save another.” He smiled.

“Father,” Jesus continued, “ this is the only way. I will bear their iniquities. I will pour out my life unto death, and will be numbered with their transgressions. 
I will carry the sin of many, and make intercession for the transgressors. I will be the bridge that carries them back into our presence. Let your will be done.”

 

The Potter gazed at Jesus; thoughts of wonder and grace filled him.

“My will be done.” He nodded, they smiled at one another and the potter continued fashioning the clay before Him, the form of man, the form of flesh, vulnerable, fragile, easily bruised, easily damaged. His thoughts turned to the lost & the broken, the people below who lived in a darkened world that had no concept of heaven and Gods perfect love. A perfect love that has the power to drive away the darkest fear. “ I must reach them.” The potter whispered, “ I must bring them home, I must bring them back to me.”

By R.Knight for Easter 20011

Taken from Isaiah 53.

He holds my life in his hands.

Jeremiah 6:16

  This is what the LORD says:
       "Stand at the crossroads and look;
       ask for the ancient paths,
       ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
       and you will find rest for your souls." 

Life is full of seasons- It also holds many cross roads.

Once again, I stand at a cross road. It requires of me to make decisions.

I don't particularly like making decisions.

I guess I dont always feel that i know enough to trust my own judgement.

I prefer it when my heavenly Father gives me very clear & prompt directions.

This time, he has been very quiet. I have felt his spirit gently nudging me and

causing me to ask many questions, but there has been no 'writing in the sky'

experiences.

How can you trust your own decisions and choices? What if the consequences of those choices

lead you into to difficulties and hardship?

How can we be sure that we are choosing the right path to walk down?

I find myself in this place, once again. I cling to the gentle whispers that have given little clues along the way.

I remember the softened voice of my Father asking me over a year ago, "will you have more children?"

I remember the questions it caused my heart to ask. I pondered over why God would ask me, if I would?

Maybe he knew, how hard I would find it, to answer, "Yes Lord."

Life can be busy, life can be chaotic, life can pull you to the left and then to the right, then spin you around and leave you feeling disorientated. Being constantly pulled from side to side, with God given desires, talents that haven't had the chance to fully shine, desires so deeply rooted within our hearts...

I have often questioned my heavenly Father asking, "when Lord will I release these things that are in my heart?"

It is said, that in order for a dream to come to pass, it first must die. Like a seed, planted in the darkness of the damp soil, we may find ourselves asking, "where is the light? Where do I go from here? How do I change from what I am, into the blossoming flower that I know I am destined to be? How do I get there?

We must wait for the right season, we must wait on God.

One thing I am slowly realizing is that Gods timing is not our timing. We have logical, natural reasoning, that tells us things like, " I am too old now, to see those dreams come alive" " I am too tired now, to feel the fire I once held in my heart."

I have been guilty of these thoughts, I have struggled at times between what I have hidden within me and the life I am living.

But, I am not the potter! I am the clay, in my masters hands. He holds my life, with a steady, focused grip. He knows when to pull me in, he knows when to spin my world around on his creative potters wheel. He knows when to cleanse me with water and make me more pliable in his hands. He has the design and shape of my life in his mind. He makes no mistakes when he carefully crafts and shapes our lives. He knows when we are ready for the fire and when we he is satisfied with how we are to decorate us and glaze us and make us in his perfect image.

His eternal view looks at my life with the greatest of love. A Fathers love. My times and seasons are in his hands.

The desires within my heart are there because he placed them there. He is able to bring them about, at the perfect time.

So I ask myself, why do we struggle against his plans? Why do we find it so hard to trust his eternal perspective?

The Bible is full of seemingly impossible situations that are made possible.

Surely we can learn from these stories and accounts. Abraham, a man of significant years fell face down and he laughed when God told him he was to be a Father at the age of 100 years. He said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"

Surely Abraham was using his logical, natural mind in his response to Gods promise " Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.'

I am also drawn toward a warning against unbelief and lack of trust towards the spoken words of God into our lives.

Abraham became tired of waiting for his promise, so he used his own strength to make Gods promise happen.

He took the timing into his own hands, rather than trusting God.

The consequences of this were significant.

So what am I learning? What is God trying to say to me , as I stand at these cross roads, with doubt and uncertainty in my heart?

I hear him ask, "Will you follow me? Will you choose to walk the path I am leading you onto, or will logic and doubt blur your vision? Will you trust my timing for all the other things I have placed within your heart? Will you put away your natural thinking and tune into your spirit man? Will you walk the narrow path?

I feel a peace fill me, I think I know the path I am now on- the path of Trust!


Jeremy Camp-Beyond measure:


The fog has finally cleared to see,
The beautiful life you’ve given me
To feel the breeze of my newborn’s gentle breath
With one to walk hand in hand,
To share this life that you have planned
It’s like a storybook with dreams
That are meant to see every next step is an extraordinary scene

[CHORUS]
I know that I’ve been,
Given more than beyond measure,
I come alive when,
I see beyond my fears
I know that I’ve been given more than earthly treasure,
I come alive when
I’ve broken down and given you control