Fingerprints

As a young man, I loved to create things with clay, especially pottery on a potter’s wheel. In Alaska, I had an opportunity to work with clay pulled from the surrounding hillsides. This was particularly fine clay and the finished products made from it were absolutely stunning! The only problem was it was full of coal and other hard bits that needed to be removed. I had great satisfaction from the feeling of the clay on my hands as I worked all the hard parts out of it, because I knew that as I pulled out bit after bit that was hidden beneath the surface of the clay, the better the vessel would be. How did I know this? You see, experience taught me that, if I rushed this process, later on my hands would inevitably come in contact with the hard bit, and the whole piece would be ruined, as I tried to form it on the wheel. This vital lesson taught me that the more the potter was allowed to ‘work the clay’, the better it became. I quickly learned the importance of patiently taking time with this process, so I could make a finished product of quality.

A good potter’s never afraid to get his hands messy, for it’s necessary. In order to search out the imperfections in the clay, he has to get up to his elbows in the clay. His fingers have to develop sensitivity to finding the imperfections, and his fingerprints are all over the clay.

As our verse today tells us, He’s the potter and we’re the clay. He’s processing you and I, so that we can be made into that vessel fit for the Master’s use. But we do have a choice, unlike the clay I processed. We can stay on the wheel to be processed or remove ourselves.

Where are you? Are you rushing through the process? Are you allowing the Master Potter to process you? As He removes those hard bits from your life, are you yielding or are you resisting? Our God is patiently working up to His elbows in our lives and He’s willing to get messy in the process!

Will you allow Him to continue to place His fingerprints all over your life?