Category: Prayer

Isaiah 45:9 (NKJV)
“Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

Recently, the image of the Potter and the clay has captured my mind. I began thinking about it after doing a word study on Psalm 37:4. I examined the Hebrew word for “delight”. According to Strong’s Concordance, two definitions for that word are “soft” and “pliable”. It is so convicting to realize that one way to delight myself in the Lord is to submit to Him entirely, making myself soft and pliable in the hands of the Master Potter. Isaiah 45:9 tells us the utter foolishness of a clay vessel trying to order its Maker around. We ought to simply submit.

In the classic Hind’s Feet on High Places, the image of the Potter is brought up when Much-Afraid travels through the desert. Here is the beautiful description: “There, on the next floor, they came to another and smaller room, in the center of which stood a great wheel, flat, like a table. Beside it stood a potter who wrought a work on the wheel. As he spun the wheel he fashioned his clay into many beautiful shapes and objects. The material was cut and kneaded and shaped as he saw fit, but always the clay lay still upon the wheel, submitting to his every touch, perfectly, unresisting.” Later in the book, another beautiful example of submission is given when Much-Afraid says “Only have your will and way in me, Shepherd. Nothing else matters.” The book also presents the imagery of laying our wills down on the altar. May we give the Lord our wills and desires; may we ask Him to conform our will to His own.

This hymn sums it up well: “Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Make me and mold me after Thy will; while I am waiting, yielded and still.”

My own words fail to say much more on this topic because there is so much that could be written about it and because my heart has been so deeply impacted by the imagery and truth of the Master Potter and His handiwork. But here is a simple poem I wrote. I hope it captures the tip of the iceberg.

On the Potter’s Wheel

Turmoil, chaos, trials,

Disappointment, pain…

Waiting, waiting, waiting,

Seemingly in vain

My life is spinning, spinning

As if out of control

But the Master Potter

Is sticking to His role.

~~~

I’m held in His hands as He’s molding me

Into a beautiful shape.

His hands are skilled and perfect;

His wheel is the best place.

I can’t see what He’s making

As He shapes and turns me around;

But who am I to question Him?

I’m just clay from the ground

That He considers perfect

For the vessel that He makes.

I, the clay, can’t say

“Why are You making me this way?”

~~~

I’m the earthen vessel

Being shaped for His glory.

He has a perfect plan for me;

He is writing my story.

Being formed can be painful,

As it is right now,

But there is no earthly reason

For me to question and doubt.

He fashions me carefully,

To look more like Him;

Through this vessel you’ll see

His glory shine from within.

I don’t know what He’s making;

I don’t know why there’s pain;

But I submit myself to the Potter,

To magnify His name.

Continue molding me, Maker.

Shape me as You please.

I make myself pliable,

Surrendered wholeheartedly.

1 Kings 13:14-19

14Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” 18Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

Recently, I came across this story in my Bible reading. It was very impactful, and I began to think of it in a new light. Here is a poem I wrote about this passage.

If You Had Struck Twice More

Arrows in Joash’s hand,

Ready to be struck.

Elisha’s dying bed,

The aged man looks up.

A prophecy arising;

A symbolic act.

“Shoot the arrow toward the ground!”
Said Elisha; “Here’s the fact:

This is the arrow of deliverance

Against the Syrian foe.

So take heart, and shoot!

Strike Syria with mighty blows!”

Joash pulled his arrow,

Stretched it through the bow,

Evaluated the distance,

Shot toward the ground below.

Shot one times, two times, three!

Then he stopped and turned around

Glancing again toward his arrows

Embedded in the ground.

“You should have shot it five times

For Syria’s destruction to be complete!

Now you’ll only strike it three times,

Again, I will repeat!

You should have struck it five times

For victory to be sure;

You would have triumphed utterly

If you had struck twice more.”

When you come before the Lord

In supplication and prayer,

Make sure to strike continually,

As you bring Him your cares.

What a terror, to hear the words,

“You came this close to prayer answered,

Heaven was ready to move,

Your desire was about to be granted,

And you hadn’t a clue.

But you gave up and stopped praying,

Of this you can be sure,

You would have obtained your answer

If you had prayed twice more.”

Make sure to strike continually;

Let your arrows hit the ground;

Pray without ceasing always;

Let your prayers forever abound.

Never cease striking,

Lest you give up when you’re not sure,

And miss out on the victory you could have obtained

If you had struck twice more.

Luke 18:1 (NKJV)
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.