Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Daily Lesson for March 29, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1 through 6:

18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."

The clay in the potter's hand really has no say over what it shall be. It may want to be one thing, but the shape of its future is in the potter's hands. The clay is not in control.  It's properties -- earth and water -- make it inherently flexible and compliant. It yields to the hands of its maker.

We too are earth and water. And we too are in the hands of God. Life for us is a learning to give up control, a learning to yield to the hands of our maker. We are here to be shaped and formed and fired into what God would have us to be. Worked, and reworked, and altogether worked over, we are not in control. Life for us is learning to yield to and trust the hands of the potter.

"Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still."

Like the clay, our future is in the hands and not our own. Life is a process of learning to trust the potter and accept what he has willed for us to be and do.

The word for this is surrender.

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