A view from the wheel
Jeremiah 18-1-6
So, this week I had that dizzy feeling that clay might have as it is centered on the potter’s wheel. The potter starts to spin the wheel and shaping the clay. I started to consider how much of my life is remembered as a blur. Christmas’ and birthdays, health problems, graduations, funerals seem to be blurred by the speed of life. Events in my life are recognizable but they are flying by while I feel like I am hardly moving.
I have that dizzy feeling and all too often I feel like I am out at the edge of the wheel and holding on for all I am worth to keep from flying into oblivion.
Since it feels that we are always on the wheel, I thought that we need to be reminded about the shaping process.
The prophet Jeremiah was told by God to head down to the potters house and he would receive a message. He gets there and he sees the potter working with clay. The wheel is spinning and the clay ends up with and imperfection in its shape. It is marred. It is ruined in some way.
The potter just forms it back into a ball and centers it on the wheel and starts the process all over again.
I like the imagery that this scene holds. The personal interaction between that material and the artist.
The way God explains His expectations and even his decision process with a visual illustration.
I have never really taken the time to learn about making pots. My art skills have ususlly been more of a desire than a reality. In elementary school I had a consistent theme of making Bird nest with eggs out of play-do and clay.
During a couple of periods of time I did do some ceramic work. Working with green ware to clean off the edges then painting the different pieces. However, there is a difference in cleaning up some pre-formed and shaped clay that already looks like something compared to making the original image.
I found it interesting that I seem to already know a little about how a potter creates cups, bowls and other useful and beautiful objects. I know that the potter starts with a slimy lump of material and he gets his hands dirty as he shapes the object. I know that there is a wheel that spins and the hands of the artist does the work. That potter has direct contact with the creation.
I know that the potter has an idea an image in his or her mind about what the clay is to become and how they will use their skill to yield the end product. I also know that a potter goes through several steps to create. The raw material has to be gathered and prepared. They shape the clay. The depending on what is being made there are 1 or several firing processes to harden and glaze the object. After a time the object is finished.
In Genesis 2:7 “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”
So here we are dust formed, shaped by God. We as the clay go through many steps in God working with us.
So we have this image of a potter working the clay.
Oddly enough there is also no direct challenge to the qualities of the clay. By default the clay is unformed and shapeable. It is not responsible for its qualities, imperfections or its material makeup.
The clay is simply the chosen material that is being changed and prepared for a completely different kind of use.
It is the selected volume of raw material that the creator works with to change from a lump into a water pitcher, a cup, a bowl, or other useful object.
The basic idea of the message given to Jeremiah is that God is sovereign.
He is going to do something to His liking with the clay. The clay does not get to choose and is not asked what it would like.
That sounds hard.
We like choice. We like to decide what we will and won’t do.
We like to make up our own minds as to what is true and right.
The Jews that the prophet was preaching too were exactly the same. For generations the Hebrews had made choices that led them to worship other gods. They made idols and made offerings to false gods.
For 7 chapters God had warned the people of Israel that they were doing wrong. That their problems, losses and even slavery to other nations were results of being imperfect clay.
The imperfections that most offended God were the influences, the viewpoints, the acceptance of normal and acceptable behavior that were adopted from the surrounding cultures. More specifically that were the decisions and choices that interfered with Israel’s relationship with God.
-- God is reminding them that He is in charge just like the potter. It is like when Bill Cosby quotes his father, “I brought you into this world I can take you out!”
Jeremiah is giving a message to a nation. God offers a relationship to the nation of Israel in the old testament. The shaping of the nation is his creation. There is little that an individual within that nation can do however, God always watched over the remnant to people that remained true to redeem the nation. Regardless of the failure of the group.
Again the idea of his sovereignty can feel pretty hard.
But, There is something else that this image supports that is a bit more comfortable.
A second hopeful vision I gain is related to the idea that the clay, in God’s eyes has already been identified as being imperfect. Imperfect clay might have too much sand or foreign objects mixed in with the clay which distort the appearance and degrade the strength and diminish the full beauty of the finished product.
The context of the book of Jeremiah, is that the clay is imperfect.
Israel has tested God’s patients. They are on his last nerve.
He has already looked into the rearview mirror and said through Jeremiah, don’t make me stop this car.
--- The hopeful view is that the potter/God chooses to work with imperfect clay.
He makes creation and refinement His Job.
Generations before God came to Israel and chose them as His people. He made them his special project. He made their development a primary goal.
So that even though the clay is marred….ruined…because of its imperfection, Even though it will not conform to the intended shape and mission of the creator. God did not completely reject the material.
Whatever the flaws in the clay, the Lord will continue to work with the material.
Sometimes digging out the stones and imperfection, adding water or allowing the clay to dry for a while.
Apparently, if the clay is incapable of being a perfect wine goblet then He may choose to craft a bowl that may be filled with living water.
-- The key is that our creator does not throw the clay away.
He works with it,….he works with us.
For Israel, God sent the prophets to influence the nation. Later He sent Jesus on a mission of preparation which continues into our day.
Folks that is the way I see the sending of Jesus Christ into our world and lives.
- He is a shaping tool that deals with the imperfections and enables us to be willing to be shaped and changed to the will and purpose of God.
- His influence helps us to be willing to accept the sovereign will of God in and for our lives.
- He encourages us to be yielded…basically shaped and changed. Empowered and encouraged by God to be useful within the kingdom.
Today is the first of several weeks where we will attempt to notice how God is working on and with us. I am using the mnemonic device of VOICE to help all of us to hear or at least experience what God is leading us to be and individuals and as a church.
The letter of the day is “V” which stands for vision.
What I hope is that the vision of God as our potter will help us to understand that He is shaping us for his purposes and to his design. While we don’t have the right or ability to tell our creator what to do with us, because of our relationship with the son have that ability to ask for information.
As we live a life of a spinning top We can each ask god to be able to see with his eyes, his vision of what he is shaping you to be. Ask God to help you see your potential and the grace and love that is shaping you in this life. Perhaps he will reveal the imperfections that God is dealing with so that you will be encouraged instead of discouraged when he digs out the stones and air bubbles to smooth the rough time you may see flying by.
Second, you can ask go to reveal his vision of what he sees how he will use you to expand creation. To help in the access to more clay, more people willing to be exposed to the shaping relationship with God.
The view from the wheel is a really personal event. The interaction, the shaping in this relationship with our creator is individual and ends up with unique results.
God is not making thousands of identical cups. He is not mass producing Christians. He is making hand crafted vessels for holy use.
In a church setting he gathers a collection of his finest works to be a blessing to the community and culture.
If you seek God’s vision of what He is creating in you will find the ride at the center of the wheel to be much easier than trying to be out of balance out on the edge.
-- In either location the view from the wheel seems to be blurred and we start to get dizzy fairly quickly.
Sometimes we feel sick form the motion and the inability to gain control of the ride. If you receive a glimpse of God vision you may start to think about the spinning motion as being a way of dancing with God. If we do we will allow God to center us and we won’t feel the need to hold on to what we are and have for dear life.
I have never had a strong desire to dance. I feel awkward and self conscious. From real experience I have the ability to hurt people when I try.
I have read about how King David danced before God as an act of worship and an expression of absolute joy.
I do have a desire to feel that much freedom to express myself in all the ways that God shapes me.
My playground days on the merry go round were as close as I will ever come to doing a pirouette. You know how professional dancers, ballerinas, or Ice skating performers spin like a top without falling down out of control.
I looked up how they are able to keep control.
As they spin around the dancer picks a visual target in the distance that is a point higher than their eye level.
They watch the target and as their body rotates and just as they lose the ability to stay focused…they “whip” their face around to the target as quickly as possible.
They never let their vision get blurred. They try to avoid any dizziness which would lead them to imbalance and an immediate crash.
Our time on the wheel will last most of our earthly lives. If we have the vision of God for what we are becoming and will ultimately be we will learn to keep our focus on Jesus Christ our visual target. He is higher than ourselves and He never moves.
If we focus on the face am mission of Jesus we will be centered on the wheel and yielded to become what God sees in the simple lumps of clay.
All Glory be to God
