Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Potter's Hands

God is the Potter and we are the clay .......

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2‘Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.   JEREMIAH 18:1-10 NRSV

Scottish Minister George MacDonald said that God's fingers can touch nothing but to mold it into loveliness.

Do you remember when you took art class in Elementary School? The teacher would come around to where you were seated and just plop this wet glop of clay in front of you and tell you to make something? You would just kind of stare at it for a while and wonder "Okay, now what do I do this thing?" And you would just sit there and ponder for several minutes before you got started.

I never really got beyond the "ash tray" stage because I just did not have the talent or the imagination to create anything more abstract. Other kids in my class were going to town creating vases, jars, bowls and so on. They just 'dug in' and created something quite sophisticated and beautiful. I just created 'blah' and remained satisfied that I created something i could take home and give to my Mom and DAD.

For the more creative children, they were given the choice of creating more advanced items that allowed them to use spinning wheels and so on. They could create an art project that would eventually be placed on display at the end of the year at the school art festival. There were some really beautiful pieces made.

Today, we are involved in a lifelong art project called - life. We want our lives to turn out the best way possible for us, so we are consumed with crafting circumstances, people, work, and dreams to our own advantage. We plan for the best education, the best job, the best family, the best neighborhood, the best of everything we can think of, constantly trying to shape ourselves into the right form. Whether consciously or not, we are all very diligent craftsmen.

There is a Craftsman who is more skilled than us, though, and if we were to trust Him to shape us into something more beautiful, He would. After all, clay cannot really do much on its own. We try to make art ourselves, and we end up with only a slightly re-shaped blob of clay - not much to look at and certainly not destined for any gallery for display. However, when the Master Artist makes art for us, His work can be positively breathtaking. He has a gender vision of beauty than we do.

We are reluctant to relax in the hands of the Potter for one main reason: we forget why we exist. We assume that clay exists for the sake of it's own feelings or dreams. We focus on "clay esteem," "clay actualization," "clay fulfillment," oblivious to the infinitely larger purpose of our formation.

Clay really exists for the Potter alone. When the Artist is allowed to do His work, the clay displays the creativity of His heart and mind.

Are you allowing the Potter to do His work? Never resist it, even though  there is no guarantee that it will be a comfortable process. In fact, it almost certainly will not be; if clay could feel, the bending, and twisting would likely be excruciating. The trials of your life are like the tools of the Potter. They gouge you for the sake of beauty. But the finished product is glorious. It has to be; it comes from the heart of the Potter.

God says 'trust in Him completely. There is nothing more beautiful than His artwork on display for all to see.   

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Promise and Paradise

Jeremiah 29:13-14

The Message (MSG)
13-14"When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

Listen to this promise from the Lord: The Jews in exile would be restored back to what they had lost - The Land of Promise.

That is always the way of God for those who earnestly seek Him.

Job, after all his troubles, was given double what he'd lost because he clung to God and never let go.
Joseph was made doubly fruitful in the land of his affliction because he never lost sight of the God who was always with him, even in an Egyptian prison.

When God's people lose what they were promised - whether through their own  sin or someone else's - and continue to seek Him where He may be found, the result is always better than the first. God's abundance never decreases the second time around.

So it has been from the beginning. Adam and Eve fell and were exiled from the Garden,and it is a long, long exile. However, God makes a promise to all those in this world who seek Him with all their heart: They WILL find Him, and in finding Him they will be restored to what was lost. And from what we know about God's restoration, the next paradise will be much better than the first. The Garden of Eden was only the beginning. The best is yet to come.

That is how we are to live in this world: as citizens of what is yet to come. Their is no grief, no sin, no problem, no frustration, no captivity, no abuse that cannot be redeemed, and the redemption will be more than worthwhile.

The Apostle Paul assured us that the glory to be revealed will far outweigh anything in our present circumstances; that (1Corinthians 2:9) "no eye has seen or ear heard what God has in store for those who love Him. We should work hard to live like it is our second nature to know that.

If we live like we know what is coming - with a smile of anticipation we can hardly suppress - people will ask us to explain the hope we have within us (1Peter 3:13-16). We can tell them of the restoration God promises and how to get in on the plan. We can introduce them to the God who wants to be found. We can end the captivity of many.    

Friday, September 2, 2011

Happy Hearts

Happy Hearts ........

21 Do not fear, O soil;
   be glad and rejoice,
   for the Lord has done great things!
22 Do not fear, you animals of the field,
   for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
   the fig tree and vine give their full yield.

23 O children of Zion, be glad
   and rejoice in the Lord your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
   he has poured down for you abundant rain,
   the early and the later rain, as before.   Joel 2:21-23 NRSV


There are a lot of of hard commands in the Bible. This is not be one of them. Well, it shouldn't be one of them. The instruction to be glad and rejoice should be the most enjoyable command of all. If we ever need permission to be happy people, this is it. God's own Word tells us to.

Why, then, don't we rejoice? Perhaps we do not know why we, forgetting that God would not tell us to be glad unless we had a really good reason to do so. Or maybe we obsess about what we do not yet have, focusing on the half-empty part of our glass - or the 99% full, as it most likely is. Or perhaps we worry  
about the future, not realizing that negativity is nowhere mentioned as a characteristic of Godliness.

Regardless of the reason, the command to rejoice - reiterated many times over in the Bible - seems unrealistic. But it is only unrealistic to those who ignore who God is, and what He has promised. When we refuse to rejoice, to acknowledge His Deliverance, His provision, His favor, His power, His presence, and everything else He tells us is ours by faith. In a sense, it is slander. We impugn His character by focusing our attention on the negatives of the world rather than on the positives of His Kingdom. We tend to forget that the negatives are temporary and the positives are eternal. When it comes to our moods, we have grossly misplaced our priorities.

Psalm 103:2 tells us not to forget any of God's benefits (a gentle rebuke, by the way, to those who do not think we should focus any attention on what God does for us.)  Remembering His benefits not only encourages us. The fact that the Bible is very persistent in its instruction for us "to be glad".
No where in Scripture is negatively rewarded. Only those who look to God in hope and faith are honored.

Spend some time today listing God's benefits. Let yourself be glad.