The feeling of being in control can be quite a seductive feeling.  Over time, it leads one to believe that you are always in control and lays the foundation for self-deceit.  The truth is that we are not always in control, we may have control at times, but full control, all the time is not possible.

I cannot control everything

God however has full control, all the time.  Just doing a study on His reign and Sovereignty will bring you to that conclusion, but that is not our topic for today.  Generally, you and I, don’t like God being in control. So, it is hard for us to remain yielded to God.

Being yielded, is to submit to God’s control, giving Jesus full authority over our lives, offering ourselves as “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1) and allowing Him to complete the work that He has started in us (Phil 1:6).  It is this call to being yielded to the Master Potter, that we read in Jeremiah 18:1-6

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”  So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.   Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”

God “nudged” Jeremiah to go down to the Potter’s House, where God showed Jeremiah how the clay can be molded and even spoiled in the Potter’s hand.  This passage was a call to Israel, and us, to be yielded in the Potters Hands.  We previously talked about having this attitude of the clay in “God’s Part and My Part.”  God’s desire is to do His work in us, but we struggle to let go of control and stay yielded in His hands.

When we consider the Potter we can become so focused on what He is doing with us, that we don’t pay attention to His tools.  His tools of work are a comfort to me in the process of staying yielded to the Master Potter.

One of His most important tools is the wheel.  The wheel represents the circumstances of our life and daily routine, which often represent circles.  We go through a cycle of trial, and pretty soon we find ourselves in another one.  We think we have finally learnt a lesson, only to find we are in the school again.  And while we feel that we are spinning crazily out of control, God is working to bring it all together.  Because while we are on the wheel of life, the Potter always has His hands on the clay.  The Potter controls the speed of the wheel and has His ultimate plan in mind.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)

Stay In His Hands

Regardless of what we are going through in life, staying yielded in His hand is where we will see good come out of it.  His hands are key to the whole process, He never let’s go of the clay, He never removes His hand from the clay, He never leaves, nor forsakes the clay (Heb 13:5). If He did, it would go flying off the wheel. Instead, with loving hands He shapes and moulds us.  It is His hands that are strong when they need to be, gentle at other times.

While His hands are on the clay, the Potter knows instantly when a problem arises.  He knows a change in the clay and will do what is needed to correct the problem.  God knows instantly where we are and because His hand rests on us, He knows when we are not where we are supposed to be.

“How foolish can you be?  He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!  Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? “(Isaiah 29:16NLT)

We may think that God does not know what He is doing, and we can hide things from God, but because His hand is on us, He is aware of every thought, every deed and every motive and will allow nothing to pass before His eyes unchallenged.

He will clean out impurities, bringing any dirt to light to be removed.  It is better for the clay to stay yielded in His hands to return to the process of shaping as soon as possible.  Even the shaping process is not to be questioned, the Potter knows His purpose and will.  Sometimes we blame God for things happening around us.  We question His ability to control our world and withdraw from His hands because we don’t like what He is doing.  The process is interrupted. The clay cannot shape itself, it is best to remain yielded to the process so that the clay does not dry out and have to be reworked all over again.

“But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” (Rom 9:20-21)

Even though the clay is misshapen and deformed, it is still in His hand. The Potter takes the marred vessel, presses it back into a lump and begins again. This time, the vessel may turn out well, but it may also be deformed once again. If so, as long as the clay stays moldable and pliable in His hands, the Potter will rework it and reform it until he is able to produce a vessel that satisfies Him.

The Potter will never throw the clay away and start fresh with another piece.  He has already paid the ultimate price for His clay to redeem it from sin, He is determined to make something useful out of it because of who He is, not who the clay is.  He has a vested interest in what happens to the clay, so He can afford to be patient and keep working it until it starts to represent the image He desires it to bear.

 ^“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”  (John 10:28-29)

Finally, the Potter uses water which helps the clay work better in His hands and ensures that the clay does not dry and break up.  This is the picture of the Holy Spirit which is given to each on of us the very first time we invite the Potter into our lives.  The Holy Spirit works with the Master Potter to work in us His purposes for us.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27)

The only duty that the clay has, is to yield to the will of the Potter.

• Can you honestly say today; “I am totally yielded to the will of God for my life.”? Or, would you have to say, “There are areas where I am still in control. There are parts of me that I haven’t given over to God.
• Or are there circumstances that you still try to control and work out? Circumstances that make you question whether You can trust His hands to control the outcome of the circumstances.

It is never too late to yield to His work in your life.

Lord, please help me to give every area of my life over to you and not insist on controlling parts of it.  Help me not to question whether you are in control of the wheel of my life, but to trust in Your control and purposes.  Help me to trust Your hand on my life, to know your loving hands and to remember that You will never let me go and know me intimately.  Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the work you do in my life, as you apply the word to my life and show me the person I am to become through God’s work in my life.  Lord I give you full control, I trust You Lord.

God’s Part and My Part

Make Me a Vessel (6 Part Online Bible Study)

Surrendered Desires

Age Appropriate Satisfaction