Broken Vessels

Blogging, oh, how I've missed you! I have no excuses that it's been so long. The only legitimate one is that my labtop died and I had to replace it. Early Christmas gift to myself, I suppose!

Over the past few months in my break from writing, I've had many blog topics on my mind. What I'd like to share today has been the common theme for the past month or so. Here goes...

God has been breaking me lately. Opening my eyes to what is really in my heart. Areas that I've never completely surrendered to Him. My weaknesses and how He can fill them with truth.

The biggest lesson that I keep returning to is the simple fact that He is the potter and I am the clay. I can't even tell you how many times the following verses have popped out of my Bible at me:

"You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
    'You did not make me'?
Can the pot say to the potter,
    'You know nothing'?" Isaiah 29:16

 

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
    those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?" Isaiah 45:9

 

"Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
   We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

 

"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

'Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.'

So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands;

so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, 'Can I not do with you,
Israel, as this potter does?' declares the Lord. 'Like clay in the hand
of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.'" Jeremiah 18:1-6

And if I haven't read them in my Bible, they've been in sermons or books. Serious God-moments.

One day when I was experiencing a lot of heart-rending, I read the following quote in one of my books- "Weep till you are malleable- God shapes best those whose clay is made soft by tears." I can vouch for that. Somehow through the weeping, He is able to shape us into who He wants us to be.

In what ways is God shaping your heart and life at this very moment? Are you allowing Him to take over the wheel and work as He sees fit? Am I?

"The Potter chose to make a vessel, Just a clay earthen vessel.
He wrought it with care in His hands, And lo, it was marred for His plan.
The Potter took that vessel, and He made it over again.
He knowingly crushed and He broke it
So into His plan it would fit.
And I was that vessel, Just a clay earthen vessel
In love He came and He broke me, And He's making me all over again.
God is your Potter, And you are His vessel.
In love let Him come and break you
And make you all over again."

[An old song based on Jeremiah 18:2-6]

Father, oh, that You would break us so that we could truly be Your vessels.