Verse of the Day - weekend

Through the Bible - Psalms 70-73, Acts 25-26

 

A friend replied to Friday's devotional with a reference to Isaiah 64:8: 

But now, O LORD, 
      You are our Father; 
      We are the clay, and You our potter; 
      And all we are the work of Your hand. 
      

There are times in our lives when we may question God's ways.  In our society God is questioned and accused all the time for "allowing" all sorts of things to happen.  The Bible contains accounts of many who have questioned God from time to time.  Some of them were His most "righteous" followers.  You can go back to Job, Moses, David and others in the Old Testament.  But God revealed to them that He is in charge.  He is the creator, His ways are unsearchable and beyond our understanding.

 

For today's verse we'll go to Romans 9 where Paul looks back to the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah who were both led to realize that they were "clay in the potters hands".

 

Romans 9:20-21  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)   But who are you —anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" ²¹ Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor?

 

I've been reading "Erasing Hell" by Francis Chan where he is dealing with many today who question God and His methods, actions, and will.  He writes,"Does the Potter have the right to do whatever He wants with the clay?  In the midst of the tragedies that life often brings, in the midst of the mysterious and hidden ways in which God often works, in the midst of the theological tensions and paradoxes that are woven throughout Scripture, in the midst of the pain and sorrow and misery and confusion that accompany our existence on earth - we must come to a place where we can answer the question.  Yes the Potter has the right."

 

May we come to a place in our lives where we are willing to admit that.  It is a place of surrender, not in defeat, but paradoxically (?) to our greatest victory.  It will enable us to share Jeremiah's sentiment as expressed in Lamentations 3:

 

Lamentations 3:21-23(NCV)

 But I have hope 
       when I think of this: 

 ²² The Lord's love never ends; 
       his mercies never stop. 
 ²³ They are new every morning; 
       Lord, your loyalty is great.

 

In Christ,
Mike

 

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Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace  NIV

Romans 9:20-24

Good News Translation (GNT)

²⁰ But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, 
         Why did you make me like this?²¹ After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.

 ²² And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction.²³ And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory.²⁴ For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.