Potter
"Yet Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands." (Isaiah 64:8 CSB)
I couldn't think about this name of God without hearing the worship chorus "Change My Heart, O God" running like a soundtrack in the back of my mind.
When I read the story behind the song in "The St. Augustine Record" (https://www.staugustine.com/living-religion/2016-11-19/story-behind-song-change-my-heart-o-god), what struck me most was songwriter Eddie Espinosa's testimony that before he wrote the song, he had become "complacent" in his faith.
"I saw a lot of things in my life that needed to be discarded. I prayed to the Lord, ‘The only way that I can follow you is for you to change my appetite, the things that draw me away. You must change my heart!’”
Complacent.
Comfortable.
And as far as the enemy is concerned, safe.
I don't want the enemy to mark me as "safe." I don't want him to get comfortable around me. I want him to put me on the dangerous list.
If I'm going to be dangerous for God, though, I'm going to have to be willing to be remade over and over by the Potter so that just when the crafty one thinks he has me figured out, I'm changed again by the Craftsman.
I don't want the enemy to mark me as "safe." I don't want him to get comfortable around me. I want him to put me on the dangerous list.
If I'm going to be dangerous for God, though, I'm going to have to be willing to be remade over and over by the Potter so that just when the crafty one thinks he has me figured out, I'm changed again by the Craftsman.
Things are going to get messy. I'm going to feel like I'm being spun around in circles. It's going to be dizzying. Just when I think I'm the right shape, the Potter might press me down and start over again.
But think of a potter. Hands that are firm but gentle, intending no harm. Respecting and appreciating the medium—the clay—and simply wanting to form it into something beautiful and useful.
But think of a potter. Hands that are firm but gentle, intending no harm. Respecting and appreciating the medium—the clay—and simply wanting to form it into something beautiful and useful.
The clay's job is not to form itself; the clay's job is to yield to the heart and hand of the Potter. And that's my job, too.
"You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray.
Change my heart, oh God.
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God.
May I be like You."
(From "Change My Heart, O God;" songwriter Eddie Espinosa; Maranatha! Music; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSmG-_eJTU.)
"You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray.
Change my heart, oh God.
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God.
May I be like You."
(From "Change My Heart, O God;" songwriter Eddie Espinosa; Maranatha! Music; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlSmG-_eJTU.)
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!