The first song I sang in front of the church was with my brother, Jeremy. The song, written by Joel Hemphill, will be forever ingrained in my mind and my heart. “He’s still working on me. To make me what I ought to be. It took him just a week to make the moon and the stars. The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient he must be. He’s still working on me.”
I love the imagery of God as the potter and I as the clay. In Isaiah 64:8 we read, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” I am not an artist and cannot make much more than a ball out of a lump of clay. But our God who created us and continues to sustain us, makes beautiful things out of our lives. The problem is that far too often we try to take the role of potter for our own lives. We seek to be the one in control and create the life we want, instead of surrendering our lives to Jesus and letting God do His fine work in us.
Over the past few months, I realize I have been trying to serve the role of potter, shaping my life on my terms. I have stepped out of my lane of gifting, expertise, and calling. In hopes of being found to be “needed” I have tried to be “all things to all people.” This mindset, though often rewarded in our culture, is not the way God made us to live. God has created us for a purpose and as we surrender to God, we will see God’s plan working out in our lives. We will find the peace of knowing God is in control and we are the clay He is forming and shaping.
In the Wesley Covenant Prayer, we pray:
I am not my own. I am Yours alone. Make me into what You will. Rank me with those You will. Put me to use for You. Put me to suffering for You. Let me be employed for You. Let me be laid aside for You. Let me be lifted high for You. Let me be brought low for You. Let me be full or let me be empty. Let me have all things or let me have nothing. With a willing heart, I freely give everything to Your pleasure and disposal.
Let God continue to do His work in you this week and in the week’s ahead.Prayer: I confess I have taken control of my life. I surrender and desire for you, O Lord, to be in control: forming me and shaping me into what you want me to be. Give me clarity as to how to release those things I have taken up in my own power. Center me again on Your Will for my life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.