A little 'wheel-time'

Drift happens - little by little - almost without ever noticing just how far off-course you have gone. Isaiah is an Old Testament prophet sent to Israel to encounter them for their "drift" - having become "like the other nations". If you have never really read the entire message of Isaiah, you will have missed special words such as: Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. If they are red as crimson, they will become like wool. (1:18) Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war. (2:4) Doom to those who call evil good and good evil, who present darkness as light and light as darkness, who make bitterness sweet and sweetness bitter. (5:20) The list could go on and on, but I would like to focus us on one of the latter chapters of this great book. There we find these words: Still, God, you are our Father. We’re the clay and you’re our potter: all of us are what you made us. Don’t be too angry with us, O God. Don’t keep a permanent account of wrongdoing. Keep in mind, please, we are your people—all of us. (Isaiah 64:8-9)

All of us are what He made us. Think on this one just a little for a moment. God is our Father. In his hands, he fashions us exactly as he envisions us to be. I want to call attention to the fact not stated here - he sees the finished product just as he planned for it to be! He is the creator of all life - it is by his hand we are formed in the womb and it is equally by his hand we are fashioned into the person we are today.  I know we have a free will, so some of the "fashioning" may get a little "out of whack" at times. Yet, it is this crystal clear image of us perfectly created by his hands that he sees. The illustration used by Isaiah of the clay and the potter tell us much. Clay is a very mold-able substance - it can take on many forms. Clay is a type of soil. It is a very "heavy" soil - difficult to bring growth from. Why? It is compacted tightly and this makes it difficult for growth to spring forth. Now, in respect to us being clay in the hands of a potter, I wonder how hard is it for God to bring growth from our lives? What does he have to do in order to "coax" any sign of life from within? Did you know clay soil can be the hardest to bring to a place of "tilled productivity" simply because it compacts so easily? The compacting work may come because of what passes over the soil for any length of time - with each "step" or passage, the soil becomes more compact.

It takes much effort to bring growth from clay soil. It is only by the addition of what farmers refer to as "organic matter" that the soil is changed in structure. If you don't know what "organic matter" is, let me just remind you it usually comes out of the tail end of an animal! In other words, some pretty "foul" stuff gets added to the soil, in turn, breaking down the hardness and opening it up to the possibility of life. This might get us to consider the "organic matter" we find in our lives at times as more of a positive additive, rather than a thing we just consider to be "foul"! Our passage makes reference to the clay in the hands of the potter - as the potter fashions it on the wheel. This process is referred to as "throwing clay bodies". Anyone who works with clay will tell you the best clay has three very important characteristics: plasticity, strength, and absorption. Plasticity refers to the flexibility of the clay. Clay with a very high plasticity can be very difficult for the potter to work with - contrary to what we might imagine. Why? There are really two reasons: 1) Highly plastic clay requires much strength from the potter - pushing "against" the plasticity of the clay; and 2) Highly plastic clay shrinks and warps during drying - making the object created no longer able to hold its original shape. So, the potter has to work with the clay to get the right degree of plasticity - so it will yield to his touch, holding its shape in the end!

The strength of the clay is what gives it the ability to withstand the furnace. A very weak clay will simply crumble in the kiln. The hardest of clay might actually crack, yielding a vessel of no use in the end. So, the potter works with the clay in a couple of ways to get the right "strength" to the clay. There is a process called "passing the clay through the grog" which is simply the passing of the clay through a screen. If the little holes in the screen are too small, the clay will be too dry and will be very inflexible to the potter as he attempts to model it. If the clay is not passed at all through some type of mesh screen, it may contain just way too much moisture, making it impossible for the clay to hold its form. He passes it through the right screen in order to get just the perfect blend of moisture and in the process, he adds some of the coarseness clay needs. If there is a right blend of a little coarseness, the strength produced is good. If too much - the thing crumbles. Can you see how this might apply to our lives - going through "screen after screen", little things which seem "unnecessary" to us being added into the "mix"? 

 What we may view as unnecessary to us may be the very thing that adds the strength to our structure! The last characteristic of the clay is its ability to absorb. Water is added to the clay while it is on the wheel. Since this is the case, if the clay is too "wet" to begin with, it might just become too "goopy" to handle. If the clay was to dry to begin with, the water might begin to break down the clay a little, but it takes much strength from the hand of the potter to form anything of value. I think this is why the potter puts the clay through various "tests" first. He wants the clay to be ready for the wheel. In the process, he creates the right plasticity, the proper strength, and the perfect absorb-ability. If we are the clay and he is the potter, does this give you a little perspective of how silly it would be for us to assume we are ready for the wheel? The wheel might produce the object he envisions, but if we are not readied for the wheel, the work of the wheel will have to be repeated and repeated. Just sayin!

Clay in his hands

A potter is one who fashions clay into vessels of purposeful use.   Some may be fashioned into great works of beauty, such as for display and placed in positions of honor perhaps a little more than others.  Others may be fashioned into vessels of great service, such as those which allow water to be carried from a well back to the home.  Still others may be fashioned into the vessels which will withstand great heat in the scorching ovens.  Each has a purpose - each fulfills the purpose for which it was created.  Each has been created by the hand of the potter - with his intention fully revealed in how he creates each vessel.  In the "fashioning", he takes great care to create what he envisions for each vessel - knowing the purpose for which he is creating it.  If he knows the purpose of each vessel, then what he "puts into" each vessel in his creative power is also what he expects to "get out" of each each of these vessels.

You, Lord, are our Father. We are nothing but clay, but you are the potter who molded us. (Isaiah 64:8)

The potter in our passage is none other than God himself.  The clay - us.  We all start in just about the same fashion - not as fully formed vessels, but as a vision of what he desires to create!  In his creative process, he brings forth each of us as vessels of specific purpose.  The vessel doesn't define for the potter what it will be - he does the defining!  If we are to truly understand the analogy of the potter and the clay, perhaps we should explore just a little about the process of creating such a vessel.  The most important part of making each vessel is to choose the right "clay" with which to create the vessel.  To be "thrown" on the wheel, the potter must choose clay with the right characteristics to withstand the "throwing" process - with enough plasticity, not too demanding of the water as he fashions it, and strong enough to hold shape as he works it into form.  Why do these things matter?

- Flexibility is probably the greatest "demand" the potter has in choosing the clay for his work on the wheel.  If the clay is not flexible, it will not hold up to the demands of the wheel. In others words, it won't be "workable", even in the most skilled potter's hands.  Stop to consider for a moment a dryer, stiffer clay.  Even if the potter were to get it formed into shape, what has he had to go through to do it?  If you ask someone who "throws clay" on a wheel, they will tell you it takes an extreme amount of pressure on their part to get the clay to take form.  The pressure takes a huge demand on their physical strength.  So, choosing a more flexible clay makes the formative process easier.  It doesn't mean he cannot use a less flexible clay, but it may be more suited for the "less finite" vessels.  Even "flexible" clay has a "balance" which must be maintained.  The potter knows a little of the "less flexible" clay mixed with the more "flexible" actually produces a stronger vessel in the end.  So, lest we lose hope that we are the kind of clay he might find a purposeful use for, take heart.  Even the more stubborn clay has the potential of being created into a vessel of purpose in his hands.  He just has a little "stronger hand" he must exert into the fashioning process.

- Strength is what gives the clay the ability to be fashioned into what some refer to as a "walled" vessel.  In other words, it isn't just a plate - it is an upright vessel, capable of holding much because of the upright walls.  Something interesting I learned about the strength of the clay a potter chooses is the  make-up of the clay itself.  The clay usually contains a couple of different "clay" ingredients:  the clay itself, some very finely ground sand, and perhaps some "grog".  Grog is actually fired clay which has been ground up. Added to the throwing clay, it adds strength by reducing the "shrinkage" of the clay.  It kind of warms my heart to know that God doesn't look for "pure" clay to do the fashioning of his vessels!  In fact, he uses the things in this life which add strength to our "clay"!  Those times of being put through the fire - they add strength and help us to avoid "shrinking away" in times of greater stress.  Even the "coarse" stuff in life adds strength to the final product. This simple fact should cause each of us to take heart!

- Absorption is also key to the potter producing the vessel he envisions.  A clay which takes on too much water will eventually become less likely to hold the form - it will be subject to a lot of shrinkage and perhaps crack in the drying process.  There is a fine balance between being too dry and being too soaked - the potter must maintain this balance in order for the vessel to be worked on the wheel and endure the process of "curing" without further damage.

Talk to someone who works with clay and they will tell you that "aged" clay is actually easier to work with.  To age the clay, they add what needs to be added and then leave it open to the air for a couple of days.  Wouldn't you think this would dry it out and make it harder to work with?  In truth, the potter does this to allow small microorganisms to take growth within the clay!  Why?  They add flexibility to the clay.  Even that which we might at first see as harmful and kind of difficult to deal with is something the potter actually puts into service in fashioning the vessel he envisions!  

The potter knows what he envisions in each of us.  He has the right clay chosen, with just the right amount of finely ground sand, ground fired "grog", and the right mix of that which will give us the greatest flexibility in his hand.  Whether we be a vessel of service to bring refreshing to those we touch, or the vessel which will serve up the tasty "meals" which will minister to their souls, we each serve a purpose because we have been fashioned by his hands.  Just sayin!