365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 99: Maker

Maker

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." (Psalm 95:6,7 NIV)

God is a once-and-again God: there are some things He does once and other things He does again and again.

When we put our faith in Him and receive His gift of salvation, He saves us once from the sin that would otherwise separate us from Him. But He keeps on saving us again and again from ourselves. 

God fills us with His Holy Spirit once, but this same Spirit gifts us again and again with comfort, guidance, and help.

God the Maker creates us once, but He keeps on making us again and again so that we look more and more like Jesus.

When I was thinking about God the Maker, my mind went to bread making. I remember learning that pioneer bakers—deprived as they were of those handy little packets of yeast—harvested natural yeast from the air to give their sourdough bread its lift and flavor. (Some bakers still do this today.) This airborne yeast was tricky to catch and to work with, so when a baker got a good thing going, she'd save a bit of each batch of dough to use in making the next loaf. Thus, the old gave rise to the new.

God the Maker sometimes works this way, too. He is always doing a new thing, but often He keeps back some of the old to give rise to the new. In the hands of the Master Maker, old lessons become new wisdom. Old weakness becomes new strength. Old wounds become new healing. Old defeats become new victories. Old sorrows become new joys. 

Oh God, our Maker, shape us into who you want us to become, for Your glory and our good.

"‘Til you are my one desire,
‘Til you are my one true love,
‘Til you are my breath, my everything,
Lord, please keep making,
I know you keep making,
Lord, please keep making me."

("Keep Making Me;" Sidewalk Prophets; songwriters Sam Mizell, David Frey, Ben Mcdonald; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwYv6yMuPaA.)