I have always loved the story of the Potter and the Clay found in Jeremiah. It speaks of Jeremiah going down to the potter’s house and there, hearing the Lord speak to him. He watches as the potter takes the clay and makes it into a vessel that seemed good for Him. Then the Lord says to Jeremiah in verse 6, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? … Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand.” We are in the hands of the Potter.
Marred in the hands of the Potter
And this is an encouragement and a comfort us all. That we are in the potter’s hand. That’s one reason why I love this story.
Then I recently heard this story again and one part of it stood out to me, more so than before. Specifically from Jeremiah 18:4.
It reads, “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.”
The part, that says “the clay was marred in his hands” literally jumped out at me. So, I did a quick word search on “marred”.
By definition, marred means to impair the appearance of: to disfigure. Keep that in mind as I continue.
Now in thinking about the process of using the potter’s wheel, I remember my own experience. Working with clay on a potter’s wheel and how it was actually one of my favorite classes that I took in high school.
What I loved about it, is that you really could not mess it up. No matter how often it seemed that I messed up my pot, I could always add a little water and start all over again.
You can start all over again.
So the story of the Potter and the Clay, we know it to be God as the Potter and that we are the clay. The verse that stood out to me that we are “marred in his hands”, reminds us that no matter how we come to him, whether bent out of shape by the storms of life. Broken by hurt and pain of poor decisions or wrongs done against us. Or marred…disfigured by trying to satisfy our deep need of Him with other things. It does not matter to the Potter.
He yet and still takes the marred clay into His hands…
And He forms it into a new pot! Praise the Lord, He makes all things new!
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NKJV
And I love how the distinction is made between how the clay was marred.
It does not say that the clay was marred BY the potter but it says that the clay was marred IN the hands of the Potter.
God does not cause bad things to happen to us, but He does use all things to work together for our good.
In this life we will have trouble. And it changes us. It tries to shape us and it tries to disfigure us.
Most often, the things that happen to us, make us who we are.
And when we come to Christ, we become new creations in Him.
We become new.
He then changes us, and He shapes us into who He created us to be.
The process of living out a life for Christ is one that we can’t yet fully see.
What or who we fully are in Christ.
But we know in the end, we will be like Him.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2 KJV
So, for now we are in His hands. We are marred in His hands.
But each time, during the process, that something comes along to bend us out of shape and mar us.
God formed us into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
For Him. By Him. For His Kingdom. For His glory.
I hope that you enjoyed reading “Marred in the hands of the Potter-The process of becoming who you were created to be”. For more inspiration, subscribe to my monthly newsletter here and share with friends and family!
