But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
The Lord is our Father and Potter, and we are the clay and the work of His hand, wholly in His power to shape as clay is in the potter's hands. He seeks to mold willing servants into His own likeness and the divine nature, with Christ Himself fashioning the character into a vessel unto honor, since perfection of character is His work and not our own. He kneads and tears apart and presses together, wets and dries and lets lie, then forms on the wheel and trims and bakes, using trial and discipline and chastisement to refine what is precious for His service and glory. Our part is to yield wholly passive and pliable in His hands, giving will and self and every experience and impulse to Jesus without finding fault with His process or following our own way. Those thus molded become sanctified vessels fit for use, restored to the moral standard and filled with grace to reveal Christ in unselfish lives and to stand in their appointed lot for bringing souls to Him.
Context and Reproof
The verse stands within Isaiah 62 to 65, and particularly within Isaiah 64. That portion speaks in a most decided manner to God's people, to leaders in the cause, to those connected with institutions, and to those in high positions carrying great responsibilities. It carries the Lord's reproof for disregard of reproof, for accepting only chosen parts of the word, for lack of thorough consecration to God, and for neglected duty to warn the people what is truth.
Heeding and accepting these words means stopping all complaining and every evil work. Such ceasing is part of the reformation needed among His people. The Lord then manifests His power in conviction and conversion of souls.
Father, Potter, and Clay
The Lord is both Father and Potter, and His people are the clay, the work of His hand, with full power over them as clay is molded in the hands of the potter. Those who give themselves to Him are to be pliable in His hands, trusting Him to mold and fashion them according to His purpose and following where He leads. They are to ask Him to mold and fashion them into an experience like His divine nature, admitting their ways and plans may need remodeling instead of thinking their work is perfect. When He would mold, surprising protest and unwillingness often come from self asserting its right to remain just as it is, and what is wanted is more meekness, more lowliness, less of self, and humble religion, so that when the Spirit melts the heart self is hid in Jesus. This yielding gives courage and strength when harassed and anxious, resting in His hands rather than seeking to mold oneself, and shapes the person into a vessel unto honor able to do God's work and bless others.
God shapes and fashions His servants according to His purpose, and their part is to yield themselves to His work rather than try to direct it themselves. He seeks to shape them according to His likeness, teaching submission to His instruction and surrender to His will, so that when people cooperate with Him He can form them into vessels shaped as He desires. Those willing to learn and obey can be molded by His hand into Christlike characters, revealing His grace, power, and glory to the world.
Christ Himself molds believers as clay is molded in the hands of the potter, and Jesus fashions character as a potter shapes clay when a person yields to Him. Surrendered character given into Christ's hands is molded into the divine image as a vessel unto honor, requiring susceptibility to divine impressions. Character perfection is not achieved by oneself, but through God's work, with love belonging in daily work where the workings of God become evident. No earthly selfish motive is to be suffered in the heart, and no perverse will or earthly selfish spirit is to be interposed to frustrate the grace of God, for God alone must have power over the clay lest the vessel be marred by unskillful human hands and become good for nothing. Being so molded means working humbly through God to present the love and grace of Christ rather than planning how to bring self into notice, letting the sanctifying power of truth be expressed in life and revealed in character.
Hearts and minds of men are as clay in the hand of God the potter, not in the hand of any man. Therefore no one has a right to compel conscience or tear men from error by force, but only to speak and preach and leave results to God. God by the simple power of His Word arrests the heart, and once the heart is taken all is won, working hearty sincerity, faith, and love. Force gains only grimace, fair appearances, cramped uniformity, and hypocrisy, where all that matters is wanting.
How God Molds
God kneads and works the clay, tearing it apart and pressing it together, wetting it and drying it, and letting it lie awhile untouched, and when it is perfectly pliable He forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it, then dries it in the sun and bakes it in the oven until it becomes a vessel fit for His use. This molding is the great Master's daily work of conforming servants to the image of Christ and making them partakers of the divine nature, impressing His own character upon them so that everything in life becomes subservient to growth and abundant fruitbearing. The mold He places is His own, not one imposed by other people.
Being called to endure trial proves He sees something precious to develop for His service and glory, for valuable ore is refined while worthless stones are not cast into the furnace. He disciplines the mind and corrects ways, working through warnings, admonitions, and chastisement rather than being met with hardening of the heart against correction. He takes possession of the mind and shapes it the way a potter shapes clay, reshaping thoughts and character.
While the clay is in the Potter's hands it is soft and can be straightened and reformed, but after it is put in the oven and baked there is no more opportunity for reform. This world is God's school where habits and character for eternity must be formed now, in this life, with crooked places made straight, or there will be no part in the future immortal life.
Yielding to Be Molded
The human part is to yield to be molded by the Master-worker, remaining pliable and teachable and wholly passive and susceptible to receive divine impressions. The clay is not to try to do the work of the potter, nor to find fault with the molding process, nor to take its own shape and follow its own will. Those who give themselves to God trust Him to mold and fashion them according to His purpose and follow where He leads.
Yielding means giving the unmanageable self unreservedly into the hands of Jesus, the will and the whole being with all experiences, temptations, trials, emotions, temperament, inward promptings and wayward impulses. The most difficult thing to manage is the self, with daily trials and peculiar temperament bringing bondage and darkness, and wisdom is found by lying passive as clay because a person is not his own and needs One able to manage him. This complete surrender places heart and mind under His shaping influence and brings precious rest and peace to the soul, with courage and strength when harassed and anxious.
It means admitting that ways and plans may need remodeling instead of thinking work is perfect, for when God would mold, surprising protest and unwillingness come from self asserting its right to remain just as it is. What is wanted is more meekness and lowliness, less of self and humble religion, so that when the Spirit melts the heart over, self is hid in Jesus. It means being willing to take another mold, to correct old habits and customs and manners of work that mar usefulness and leave deformity upon God's work, to learn constantly and advance toward perfection in habits and methods. This requires daily conversion and letting go of what unfits for responsibility, in order to become men and women whom God can train to fill places of responsibility.
It calls for beginning the work of reformation now by humbly following where God leads with simplicity of faith that takes Him at His word, letting the spirit be subdued instead of hardening the heart against warnings, admonitions and chastisement. Fickle faith, a presumptuous spirit, and stubborn refusal of correction must be put away. Surrender is urgent even now after much lifetime waited and wasted, because the end is stealing near, requiring the Holy Spirit upon hearts now at ease so they no longer sleep but watch and are sober.
God's workers must live in perfect submission, in His hands as clay to be fashioned and molded after the divine likeness and reshaped in points where character is wrong, with God working in and by and through them. They cannot succeed while keeping their own will and way, working at cross-purposes supposing their way best to bring about God's purposes, being shaped and manipulated by another person's mind, or acting as agents to frustrate His plans. Hearts need to be wholly sanctified and not seek to retain their own way and will, and a present mold of character can leave even sincere, honest, excellent people unfit until God molds them anew with a daily experience in the things of God. Those who are self-willed and unusable must not touch the work until they have thorough training in conversation, manner of preaching, and how to address people.
Yielding means making God first and last and best in everything, letting God preside in councils and work and honoring Jesus as chief, not putting Him out of sight or sinking principle into policy plans. It means not glorying in human wisdom but glorying in knowing God. Those who yield in this way receive God's blessing instead of His frown, with improved health, tact, skill and marvelous wisdom, success to efforts, and the ministry of angels to those who bear care.
It means being emptied of self and surrendered so Christ may pervade the soul, moving under divine guidance to keep step with the divine plan and receive divine supplies. No earthly selfish motive can be suffered to live in the heart, and no perverse will or earthly selfish spirit interposed to frustrate grace, lest the vessel be marred by unskillful human hands and become good for nothing, for God alone must have power over the clay. The submitted, renewed heart cultivates no selfishness, sees pride in its sinfulness, and expels it, to be made a vessel unto honor filled with renewing, sanctifying grace.
Being molded means laying every burden at the feet of Jesus, recognizing health, soul and children are all the Lord's, and so relating to them as to present a well-ordered family with children who are a pattern of good works, which is the special work of parents connected with the sacred work of God. Youth especially must be carefully trained while young, with perversity and wrong habits of self-indulgence checked by parents and teachers laboring together with God. In this way they form symmetrical characters God can approve and are fitted to be members of the royal family, for crooked places must be made straight now in this life, while the clay is soft and can be straightened and reformed before baking leaves no more opportunity.
Letting God mold when rightly knowing and estimating oneself brings earnest desire for firm trust in God, under His molding and disciplining of the mind. That trust does not take the place of efforts for self-improvement. The one who realizes deficiencies spares no pains to reach the highest possible standard of physical, mental and moral excellence.
Transformed Life and Mission
Those yielded to the molding become vessels unto honor, fit for use, shaped daily into the image of Christ and made partakers of the divine nature until everything in life serves growth and abundant fruitbearing. No one can be made such a vessel without submitting to be molded in whatever way is required, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ that expels selfishness and pride. The Spirit sanctifies by inspiring and governing the life, and when grace accomplishes its work it brings the thoughts into captivity to Christ, so that all excellence appearing in character or conduct comes wholly from God and not from finite human nature. This shaping is a reformation and a work of character building that restores the moral standard and prepares for a home in God's kingdom.
Thus molded, they are qualified to stand in their lot and place and reveal His grace, power, and glory to the world. By unselfish lives they give the world an illustration of practical Christianity and properly bear witness of Him so as to leave the world without excuse. When He is allowed to take possession of the mind and shape it as a potter shapes clay, the peculiar dividing differences between nationalities disappear. Those so molded look to Jesus and copy His manners and spirit after the one pattern, Christ Jesus, instead of many national patterns.
Italian, French, and German believers then stand on the same foundation of truth with the same Spirit dwelling in each, Christ in them the hope of glory, building no wall of partition but coming into the harmony that is in Jesus for the salvation of others. The wisdom needed to reach different classes is given to those who feel their need and ask for it. The Lord is ready to do a great work for every church through those who yield as clay in this way. Each is to be shaped by His hand and fitted for the work and responsibility given them, which belongs to each person and cannot be transferred to another or taken over by human agents.
They must be willing to be shaped and made flexible under His guidance in the work of bringing souls to Christ. That means reaching people through God, working humbly to present the love and grace of Christ rather than planning how to bring themselves into notice, letting the sanctifying power of truth be expressed in life and revealed in character. God, the divine Worker, foresees all possibilities, calls His workers, and imbues those who give willing self-denying service with His Spirit to make a success, accomplishing His work in the world through human agencies who submit to be worked by Him. When man guides and controls himself in selfishness he works against Christ's plans and grieves His heart.
The Lord is our Father and Potter, and we are the clay and the work of His hand, wholly in His power to shape as clay is in the potter's hands. He seeks to mold willing servants into His own likeness and the divine nature, with Christ Himself fashioning the character into a vessel unto honor, since perfection of character is His work and not our own. He kneads and tears apart and presses together, wets and dries and lets lie, then forms on the wheel and trims and bakes, using trial and discipline and chastisement to refine what is precious for His service and glory. Our part is to yield wholly passive and pliable in His hands, giving will and self and every experience and impulse to Jesus without finding fault with His process or following our own way. Those thus molded become sanctified vessels fit for use, restored to the moral standard and filled with grace to reveal Christ in unselfish lives and to stand in their appointed lot for bringing souls to Him.
Context and Reproof
The verse stands within Isaiah 62 to 65, and particularly within Isaiah 64. That portion speaks in a most decided manner to God's people, to leaders in the cause, to those connected with institutions, and to those in high positions carrying great responsibilities. It carries the Lord's reproof for disregard of reproof, for accepting only chosen parts of the word, for lack of thorough consecration to God, and for neglected duty to warn the people what is truth.
Heeding and accepting these words means stopping all complaining and every evil work. Such ceasing is part of the reformation needed among His people. The Lord then manifests His power in conviction and conversion of souls.
Father, Potter, and Clay
The Lord is both Father and Potter, and His people are the clay, the work of His hand, with full power over them as clay is molded in the hands of the potter. Those who give themselves to Him are to be pliable in His hands, trusting Him to mold and fashion them according to His purpose and following where He leads. They are to ask Him to mold and fashion them into an experience like His divine nature, admitting their ways and plans may need remodeling instead of thinking their work is perfect. When He would mold, surprising protest and unwillingness often come from self asserting its right to remain just as it is, and what is wanted is more meekness, more lowliness, less of self, and humble religion, so that when the Spirit melts the heart self is hid in Jesus. This yielding gives courage and strength when harassed and anxious, resting in His hands rather than seeking to mold oneself, and shapes the person into a vessel unto honor able to do God's work and bless others.
God shapes and fashions His servants according to His purpose, and their part is to yield themselves to His work rather than try to direct it themselves. He seeks to shape them according to His likeness, teaching submission to His instruction and surrender to His will, so that when people cooperate with Him He can form them into vessels shaped as He desires. Those willing to learn and obey can be molded by His hand into Christlike characters, revealing His grace, power, and glory to the world.
Christ Himself molds believers as clay is molded in the hands of the potter, and Jesus fashions character as a potter shapes clay when a person yields to Him. Surrendered character given into Christ's hands is molded into the divine image as a vessel unto honor, requiring susceptibility to divine impressions. Character perfection is not achieved by oneself, but through God's work, with love belonging in daily work where the workings of God become evident. No earthly selfish motive is to be suffered in the heart, and no perverse will or earthly selfish spirit is to be interposed to frustrate the grace of God, for God alone must have power over the clay lest the vessel be marred by unskillful human hands and become good for nothing. Being so molded means working humbly through God to present the love and grace of Christ rather than planning how to bring self into notice, letting the sanctifying power of truth be expressed in life and revealed in character.
Hearts and minds of men are as clay in the hand of God the potter, not in the hand of any man. Therefore no one has a right to compel conscience or tear men from error by force, but only to speak and preach and leave results to God. God by the simple power of His Word arrests the heart, and once the heart is taken all is won, working hearty sincerity, faith, and love. Force gains only grimace, fair appearances, cramped uniformity, and hypocrisy, where all that matters is wanting.
How God Molds
God kneads and works the clay, tearing it apart and pressing it together, wetting it and drying it, and letting it lie awhile untouched, and when it is perfectly pliable He forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it, then dries it in the sun and bakes it in the oven until it becomes a vessel fit for His use. This molding is the great Master's daily work of conforming servants to the image of Christ and making them partakers of the divine nature, impressing His own character upon them so that everything in life becomes subservient to growth and abundant fruitbearing. The mold He places is His own, not one imposed by other people.
Being called to endure trial proves He sees something precious to develop for His service and glory, for valuable ore is refined while worthless stones are not cast into the furnace. He disciplines the mind and corrects ways, working through warnings, admonitions, and chastisement rather than being met with hardening of the heart against correction. He takes possession of the mind and shapes it the way a potter shapes clay, reshaping thoughts and character.
While the clay is in the Potter's hands it is soft and can be straightened and reformed, but after it is put in the oven and baked there is no more opportunity for reform. This world is God's school where habits and character for eternity must be formed now, in this life, with crooked places made straight, or there will be no part in the future immortal life.
Yielding to Be Molded
The human part is to yield to be molded by the Master-worker, remaining pliable and teachable and wholly passive and susceptible to receive divine impressions. The clay is not to try to do the work of the potter, nor to find fault with the molding process, nor to take its own shape and follow its own will. Those who give themselves to God trust Him to mold and fashion them according to His purpose and follow where He leads.
Yielding means giving the unmanageable self unreservedly into the hands of Jesus, the will and the whole being with all experiences, temptations, trials, emotions, temperament, inward promptings and wayward impulses. The most difficult thing to manage is the self, with daily trials and peculiar temperament bringing bondage and darkness, and wisdom is found by lying passive as clay because a person is not his own and needs One able to manage him. This complete surrender places heart and mind under His shaping influence and brings precious rest and peace to the soul, with courage and strength when harassed and anxious.
It means admitting that ways and plans may need remodeling instead of thinking work is perfect, for when God would mold, surprising protest and unwillingness come from self asserting its right to remain just as it is. What is wanted is more meekness and lowliness, less of self and humble religion, so that when the Spirit melts the heart over, self is hid in Jesus. It means being willing to take another mold, to correct old habits and customs and manners of work that mar usefulness and leave deformity upon God's work, to learn constantly and advance toward perfection in habits and methods. This requires daily conversion and letting go of what unfits for responsibility, in order to become men and women whom God can train to fill places of responsibility.
It calls for beginning the work of reformation now by humbly following where God leads with simplicity of faith that takes Him at His word, letting the spirit be subdued instead of hardening the heart against warnings, admonitions and chastisement. Fickle faith, a presumptuous spirit, and stubborn refusal of correction must be put away. Surrender is urgent even now after much lifetime waited and wasted, because the end is stealing near, requiring the Holy Spirit upon hearts now at ease so they no longer sleep but watch and are sober.
God's workers must live in perfect submission, in His hands as clay to be fashioned and molded after the divine likeness and reshaped in points where character is wrong, with God working in and by and through them. They cannot succeed while keeping their own will and way, working at cross-purposes supposing their way best to bring about God's purposes, being shaped and manipulated by another person's mind, or acting as agents to frustrate His plans. Hearts need to be wholly sanctified and not seek to retain their own way and will, and a present mold of character can leave even sincere, honest, excellent people unfit until God molds them anew with a daily experience in the things of God. Those who are self-willed and unusable must not touch the work until they have thorough training in conversation, manner of preaching, and how to address people.
Yielding means making God first and last and best in everything, letting God preside in councils and work and honoring Jesus as chief, not putting Him out of sight or sinking principle into policy plans. It means not glorying in human wisdom but glorying in knowing God. Those who yield in this way receive God's blessing instead of His frown, with improved health, tact, skill and marvelous wisdom, success to efforts, and the ministry of angels to those who bear care.
It means being emptied of self and surrendered so Christ may pervade the soul, moving under divine guidance to keep step with the divine plan and receive divine supplies. No earthly selfish motive can be suffered to live in the heart, and no perverse will or earthly selfish spirit interposed to frustrate grace, lest the vessel be marred by unskillful human hands and become good for nothing, for God alone must have power over the clay. The submitted, renewed heart cultivates no selfishness, sees pride in its sinfulness, and expels it, to be made a vessel unto honor filled with renewing, sanctifying grace.
Being molded means laying every burden at the feet of Jesus, recognizing health, soul and children are all the Lord's, and so relating to them as to present a well-ordered family with children who are a pattern of good works, which is the special work of parents connected with the sacred work of God. Youth especially must be carefully trained while young, with perversity and wrong habits of self-indulgence checked by parents and teachers laboring together with God. In this way they form symmetrical characters God can approve and are fitted to be members of the royal family, for crooked places must be made straight now in this life, while the clay is soft and can be straightened and reformed before baking leaves no more opportunity.
Letting God mold when rightly knowing and estimating oneself brings earnest desire for firm trust in God, under His molding and disciplining of the mind. That trust does not take the place of efforts for self-improvement. The one who realizes deficiencies spares no pains to reach the highest possible standard of physical, mental and moral excellence.
Transformed Life and Mission
Those yielded to the molding become vessels unto honor, fit for use, shaped daily into the image of Christ and made partakers of the divine nature until everything in life serves growth and abundant fruitbearing. No one can be made such a vessel without submitting to be molded in whatever way is required, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ that expels selfishness and pride. The Spirit sanctifies by inspiring and governing the life, and when grace accomplishes its work it brings the thoughts into captivity to Christ, so that all excellence appearing in character or conduct comes wholly from God and not from finite human nature. This shaping is a reformation and a work of character building that restores the moral standard and prepares for a home in God's kingdom.
Thus molded, they are qualified to stand in their lot and place and reveal His grace, power, and glory to the world. By unselfish lives they give the world an illustration of practical Christianity and properly bear witness of Him so as to leave the world without excuse. When He is allowed to take possession of the mind and shape it as a potter shapes clay, the peculiar dividing differences between nationalities disappear. Those so molded look to Jesus and copy His manners and spirit after the one pattern, Christ Jesus, instead of many national patterns.
Italian, French, and German believers then stand on the same foundation of truth with the same Spirit dwelling in each, Christ in them the hope of glory, building no wall of partition but coming into the harmony that is in Jesus for the salvation of others. The wisdom needed to reach different classes is given to those who feel their need and ask for it. The Lord is ready to do a great work for every church through those who yield as clay in this way. Each is to be shaped by His hand and fitted for the work and responsibility given them, which belongs to each person and cannot be transferred to another or taken over by human agents.
They must be willing to be shaped and made flexible under His guidance in the work of bringing souls to Christ. That means reaching people through God, working humbly to present the love and grace of Christ rather than planning how to bring themselves into notice, letting the sanctifying power of truth be expressed in life and revealed in character. God, the divine Worker, foresees all possibilities, calls His workers, and imbues those who give willing self-denying service with His Spirit to make a success, accomplishing His work in the world through human agencies who submit to be worked by Him. When man guides and controls himself in selfishness he works against Christ's plans and grieves His heart.