The Creator’s Designs

I started a new job yesterday. As such i was privileged to substitute teach in a local high school class. The primary class i subbed for was a ceramics class. Watching the students design ceramic pots brought to life for me the passages in Scripture that speak of God as a potter.

Primary amongst these texts is Isaiah 64:8. It reads, “Yet LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands” (emphasis added).

One thing that became clear to me is that the clay the students were molding and shaping and trimming was silent. It didn’t scream out and say, “You’re doing this wrong! I want to be different!”

Several other Scripture passages speak similarly:

• Isaiah 29:16 (HCSB)  You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand ⌊what he’s doing⌋”?
• Isaiah 45:9 (HCSB)  “Woe to the one who argues with his Maker— one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it, ‘What are you making?’ Or does your work ⌊say⌋, ‘He has no hands’?
• Romans 9:20-21 (HCSB) But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?
• Isaiah 10:15 (HCSB)  Does an ax exalt itself above the one who chops with it? Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it? It would be like a staff waving the one who lifts it! It would be like a rod lifting ⌊a man⌋ who isn’t wood!

The point is clearly that God is in control. The first verse of the Bible says, “God created the heavens and the earth.”

Just like the students in class yesterday were in complete control over what they were making, so also–in a much greater, perfect way–God Himself is in control of everything that He created. Since He created everything, He can do what He wants with everything, and we do not have a right to complain against Him.

Shai Linne raps, in his song “Our God is in the Heavens“:

You gotta get a focused lens to truly understand where His control extends
And I know that this offends, but the truth is the grossest sins serve His ultimate ends
You might not hear it from your favorite pastor
But He made the wicked for the day of disaster
Sinners unacquainted with the way of the Master
We have to explain what is plain in the chapters
He’s sovereign over creation and sovereign over salvation
Including reprobation, regeneration
I wouldn’t want to say this if it wasn’t based in His revelation

God can tear down nations; God can plant nations; God can bless a ministry; God can close down a ministry; God can tarry in His return; God can come before i even finish writing this post. He is in sovereign control of everything, and we must give Him the glory regardless of what we might think He should be doing differently or “better.”

Please praise Him for being in control. The theological word is sovereign. Praise Him for His sovereignty, and trust that everything He does is for a purpose! Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose” (emphasis added).

The question then becomes: Are you one of His people? Do you love God? If you are and do, then you can trust Him in every situation (even if it seems unbearably difficult).

If you don’t, please change your mind about God. Romans 8:28 is clear that you cannot truly say that everything happens for your good if you do not love God. Please turn to Christ today. He died on the cross and rose again to pay for your sins and give you life. It was the worst atrocity in history, and it was for the GREATEST GOOD. Please believe it!

Soli Deo Gloria