The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I shall announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:1–6.
In this walk we come to realize that the Lord keeps working us over. At one moment, as we observe that things don’t seem to be going well, we may feel like that clay going round and round on the potter’s wheel—a little dizzy and as though something had happened that spoiled the whole vessel. We were anticipating that we would come out beautifully but we didn’t come out just right. Cheer up, the Lord is working away at us and He’ll finish the job.
Sometimes I feel like the little boy in the Sunday School class, whose teacher asked those children who had something to thank God for, to voice it. One little girl stood up in her beautiful little pinafore and said, “I thank the Lord that He made me so beautiful and so cute.” And she sat down. Another child stood up and said, “I thank God that my dad is so rich.” And he sat down rather smuggly. Next a brainy little boy stood up and said, “I thank God that I get such good grades in school because the Lord made me so intelligent.” At the end of the line stood a poor little kid whose face was covered with freckles, one eye was a little askew, and his red hair covered the other eye. The teacher asked, “Don’t you have something to thank the Lord for?” Along with everything else, he had an impediment in his speech. “No,” he lisped, “I think the Lord just about ruint me.” Have you ever felt that way? As the Lord has you whirling around on His potter’s wheel, do you ever feel like looking up at Him and saying, “Lord, you just about ruined me”? You have the promise in the text that He’s going to give you another whirl, that He’s going to make you just the way He wants you to be.
Most of our imperfections come because we know what we want to be. Perhaps we wiggle or squirm in the wrong direction, and in the eyes of the Potter, this mars the vessel. Then He’ll continue at his wheel until something intangible is shaped into our spirit. When a pot is on a wheel, we can see every imperfection because the pot is made of matter. But the imperfection that God works on is not readily seen by the human eye. He wants you to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord (II Corinthians 7:1). He deals with things that are down in the inner man.
If I were to list six things that I believe God is trying to work into these vessels, I would say the first one is absolute motivation. Motivation is often present in a vessel, but it isn’t always adequate. It isn’t absolute. It isn’t so positive that you’ll go through the heat and fire. Sometimes we have seen people leave this wonderful walk because the fire they were under was so great. The people in this walk love the Lord. They continue coming year after year because of a deep motivation that is working in them. It must be total, so that they want God and His will more than anything else. We were born into this world, and we stand looking out, as it were, on the seashores of a great age, screaming against the winds and the storm, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God”; even as Christ said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9). We stand against all the hurricanes of devil power and every negative force, not because God gives grace, for He gives grace to anyone, but because the motivation is there. It’s an intangible thing. You hardly know it’s there until the test comes. God puts it there—that deep, deep motivation.
Things are easy when at first you say eagerly, “Oh, I want to do the will of the Lord. I want to minister.” But when the hour comes, something tests you. It’s like the fellow who was talked into marriage. When he stood before the preacher with the girl, he began to fidget and squirm around, until the pastor looked down and asked, “What’s the matter with you, Sam?” He replied, “I guess I just lost my enthusiasm for this wedding.” When he came right down to the wire, he wasn’t so set; he wasn’t so sure. That’s sometimes called the “bridegroom jitters.” People also experience this when they face the deep things God sets before them; only in that case we’re the heavenly bride. The Lord will help us to overcome those bridal jitters.
Secondly, God is fashioning in all of us, His faithfulness; a kind of faithfulness that continues, not because there is a sense of satisfaction in the work, or because of any praise or reward. Human faithfulness seems to demand a price, but because Christ is our merciful and faithful High Priest, we come to Him, knowing He is always faithful to meet us. The Lord’s faithfulness is almost incomprehensible and this He is trying to work in us. He would have this treasure in earthen vessels. We’re going to be the vessels upon that divine wheel where we’re taking form. Faithfulness—pay close attention to that word, for you know yourself. You know what God is demanding of you. And you know when no one is looking—or maybe when they are looking—how you can back off and withdraw, how you can be tempted to run, how you can be tempted to duck when you should be standing there slugging it out, toe to toe. And yet in such a vessel the Lord keeps working His faithfulness. That’s the beauty He wants to see. I think as He looks at all of us, nothing pleases Him more than to see someone who has gone beyond the boredom of routine, beyond all expectations man could have, as he is still there doing the will of the Lord. Despite the continuing battles, he’s still right there.
Congregations can usually be divided into two groups of willing volunteers: those who are willing to work, and those who are willing to let them. But in this thing of faithfulness, we just do the will of God and keep on doing it. Sometimes it takes a lot of faithfulness to go through a crushing personal defeat. Defeat can come about in many different ways. It doesn’t have to be caused by a deadly sin; it can be caused by an accumulation of things that place you in an emotional slump. Have you ever hit an emotional slump? When you awaken some morning and see the sun rising, do you say, “What are you coming up for?” Perhaps the next day you protest again to the sun, “How dare you rise and bring another day upon me.” If you haven’t experienced days like that, you haven’t lived. Those are the days when your faithfulness is being tested.
The day of the Lord will dawn with clouds, a day of dark clouds and gloominess; yet we’re looking forward to it, because we’re anticipating that we will be the agents, the instruments in His hand, during that dark day that is to come upon the world. All the prophets speak of it. No wonder God has to deal with our motivation and with our faithfulness. He must see that they are perfect and absolute, because the day that is to come is like the day of fire that will test all things. We must see that we walk with God. We must see that our homes are in order, that our personal lives are in order, and we must see that the house of God is in order, that we are faithfully doing just exactly what He wants.
We find a beautiful example of this kind of faithfulness in Noah. Long before the modern days of shipbuilding, Noah built his block-long boat. It took him a hundred and twenty years to build it. The faithfulness of Noah fascinates me. That was a good piece of work the Lord did on the potter’s wheel with Noah. Don’t forget he was faithful to preach a hundred and twenty years with no converts. And he didn’t have a good church organized to help him build the ark. Can you picture him hammering away at the project, day after day, for one hundred and twenty years? It was no small feat to get all those animals into the ark either. It’s been difficult enough for us just to be faithful for twenty years, but a hundred and twenty years.… Like the potter working on a vessel, when God puts us on the wheel, He starts to build within us not only the motivation to do His will, but also the faithfulness to do it.
Thirdly, God must put a fierceness within the vessels He’s going to use in this day, so that when you come face to face with the enemy as they come charging down the hill at you, and you’re out-numbered, some way you will reach into God, with a fierceness. Something fierce within your spirit will enable you to reach into God and snag a miracle—a miracle exactly the size and shape you need. This is the kind of vessel God must have. Something within you must supersede fear; and though fear may be running through your veins like ice water, you reach out and snag a miracle because you must have one. Miracles will have to be there because there’s something so strong in your spirit that you’d make one, if God didn’t give you one. It’s God who worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Submission is the fourth thing the Heavenly Potter must work in us. Submission is a word we use so commonly in this walk and yet I wonder if each of us does not need to learn something more of what the word submission means, what it really means to be submissive to the Lord. When the Potter has to build this into us, I think He could tear the pot down and rebuild it again and again until He’s sure there is true submission in us. Oh, that the strength of our will, the strength of our purposes, the strength of our nature, the independence and the arrogance of the human being would come to that place where we’re actually, totally, submissive to God. It’s the thing we see in Christ. “I do always those things that please the Father; whatever I see the Father do, that’s what I do” (John 8:29). Do you agree that I’m to see the Lord work that submission in you, until it’s absolute, until it’s perfect?
The vessel of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter, so he remade it into another vessel as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.” Are you praying, “Lord, just keep on whirling me around and doing what you want to with me? Don’t get discouraged with me, Lord. And don’t let me become discouraged.”
I think one of the most difficult qualities for God to work in a vessel is the fifth point: that you are pleased with God. We talk so much about pleasing God, and we say that without faith it’s impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to Him must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We know we can’t please the Lord without faith, but what about God pleasing us? I don’t thing it makes too much difference to God whether or not you’re pleased with Him, but it’s very important for you, that as His vessel you are pleased with the Lord. The arrogance of the human heart enters in when we become displeased with the Lord.
This was true of David when he planned to make a big production scene out of bringing the ark of the covenant back from the Philistines. As he was bringing it back, he said, “We’ll use a new cart and these oxen; we’ll celebrate and have a big parade, because it is a marvelous thing we are doing.” David loved the Lord. He was trying to do the right thing, but he wasn’t following the Scriptural instructions. The ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. When Uzzah reached out at the threshing floor of Nachon, and touched the ark to keep it from falling, he dropped dead. David was displeased with the Lord. He exclaimed, “How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?”
This next thought is something you may not often consider. There are times when you’re displeased with God and His dealings, and there are also many things about this walk that you may not be pleased with. You’ll have to get over that. Pray, “Lord, mold me and shape me until I’m pleased with the way You do things—really pleased with the way You do things.” To be able to say, “He doeth all things well,” takes a lot of faith and the dealings of God upon your heart.
Frankly, haven’t you sometimes thought that the Lord really goofs when it comes to getting the job done? Aren’t you sure you have a better sense of timing than God? You know exactly when the Lord should work things out, but you find yourself waiting with no answer—much like Abraham when God told him to go out and prepare the sacrifice, and he stood there all day long shooing the buzzards away, crying out, “Where’s God? Where’s God? I’m here. I did my part.” That’s the cry of the ministries, “I’m ready to go; He’s going to send me forth now.” But the next year the smile isn’t quite so broad. “Is He going to send me forth now, I hope? Oh Lord, I’m ready to go. Maybe you didn’t hear me, Lord—I am ready.” That’s when you start getting displeased with the Lord because of those long delays. A man isn’t tested as much by the battle as he is by the delays.
God must work patience in His vessels. For years I thought of patience, not as a virtue, but a handicap. As a boy, I remember that I never saw a patient man win a fight or a patient man win the girl that some other fellow wanted. If he played the waiting game it meant that he was probably the best man at the wedding instead of the bridegroom. Patience is a quality that parades as a virtue, but I have seriously questioned that concept. However, I’ve learned something about patience. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Hebrews 10:35, 36. This is what tests us.
When Moses became displeased and impatient with the Lord, he had to spend forty years learning patience. Moses was a man of destiny. As a babe he had been saved from death, delivered up out of the Nile River, and raised in the palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. According to the writings of Josephus, Moses was a great general and strategist. In the early days when he was in Pharaoh’s palace, he was commissioned to go down and subdue Ethiopia, which at that time was ruled by a very beautiful queen. According to tradition, she fell in love with Moses, and made a deal with him that if he would marry her she would turn the city over to him. In that way Moses won the city. Miriam became furious, because she objected to his marrying an Ethiopian, a Negro woman. God rewarded Miriam by striking her with leprosy. That ended her comments. Moses prayed for her and the Lord healed her.
In those days Moses was probably quite a warrior. The Word says he was the meekest man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). He wasn’t born meek. Patience and meekness were worked in him by God while he was on the wheel. How did it happen? One day he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, and he probably thought, “God raised me up to deliver the Israelites from this slavery. Doesn’t God realize it is time to deliver them?” So he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Then he had to flee for his life. After that we find Moses, a fugitive from justice, herding sheep on the back side of the desert for forty years. Then God had a meek man. We might think that God’s timing was all wrong; but it wasn’t, even though a lot of people lived and died under the whip during those forty years, until God was ready.
No doubt all of us at times have been a little displeased and impatient with God and the way things seemed to be working out. Do you think the Lord is a little slow in His workings? All right, back on the wheel; back on the wheel. Take a few more whirls until the Lord works in you the pattern of being pleased with God. If you seem to be going in circles, maybe the Lord is perfecting you.