One of the earliest and most prevalent pictures God offers of Himself is that of a “Potter.” In fact, it is the only type of artist He calls Himself. Yatsar refers to forming, stretching, squeezing, pressing, and molding something into a specific shape. Yatsar quite literally is the creative action of a potter working with clay and we see it first in Genesis 2:7
 
“The Lord God formed (yatsar) the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”
 
In Jeremiah 18 and 19 we see the same reference to the word “yatsar” when Jeremiah goes to the house of the potter to watch as the clay is centered, opened, stretched and shaped on the potter’s wheel.
 
In Jeremiah 18:6 it says we are like clay in the hands of the potter. And in Isaiah 45:9, we are called the clay, and in Romans 9:21, we are called lumps of clay. In Isaiah 29:16, 2 Corinthians 4:7, 2 Timothy 2:20, we are called clay pots, jars of clay or earthen vessels. In Isaiah 64:8 it says,
 
“We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
 
With all these references to God as the Potter and us as the clay, I think it is clear that the attributes of potters and clay are a timely word about the nature of God and His ways with us.
 
Now I don’t usually do this, but to really experience the correlation and the symbolic power of this picture of Yatsar, I went all in and decided to take a wheel throwing class. I had taken ceramics in college, but definitely needed a refresher. It is much harder than it looks, to say the least!
 
To start with, not only do you have to wedge the clay so that there are no air bubbles and all the clay particles can be aligned, but then you have to swiftly and deliberately “smack” it onto the wheel so that it will not come loose. Easier said than done! And aren’t we the same? Double-minded and unstable, we too must be brought into whole-heartedness, harmony, stability and alignment with God’s purposes. Then we must be firmly attached to the Potter’s wheel in order for the Potter to do anything more with us. Without that commitment we will wander and, like the clay, go flying off the wheel where God cannot work with us.
 
Once the clay is secure on the wheel, the next and most tedious part of the process has just begun: centering. Before we can do anything else, the clay must be centered; in other words, every part and every aspect of the clay must be lined up with the very heart of the wheel. This takes a surprisingly long time! The clay is wobbling all over the place, following its own path, and headed in many directions all at the same time. Have you ever tried to hold down a wiggling puppy? It’s kind of like that!
 
Interestingly, if we could hear the clay speak, we would probably hear something like what we often say: “Are we done yet? Didn’t we already do this? Are you sure we are getting anywhere?” Life can get so busy and often we find ourselves resisting the process and come out of Shalom or the peace of God. The Hebrew word Shalom means absolute tranquility. It is a sense of well-being, safety, harmony, and completion – exactly how the clay feels once it finally rests under the skill of the potter’s hand, becoming smooth, solid, and centered. It truly is worth the wait and perserverence!
 
Now the next step is probably the most beautiful in the whole process: opening. At the moment, as the artist and minister Jon Mourglia states, “This lump of clay is full of itself.” And he is right! The clay is lovely and centered, but as this point in the process, there is no opening and the pot is of no use at all.
 
In order to transform the clay into something he can use, the potter has to open a hole in the middle of it and create an empty space. Empty space. How often do we do everything to fill up our lives so that there is no quiet in our hearts and no unscheduled days to hear God’s voice? I know I struggle to plan times of solitude, silence, fasting and clearing out the things in my life that distract and clutter up my surroundings. My friends, let us together allow for these times of empty space, so that we will be available and open to hear the whisper of God. It is only then that He will be able to use us.
 
Every step up till now has been one of preparation, now it’s time for the fancy stuff. The moment we have been waiting for: shaping. This is where the potter puts one hand inside pot and rests the other outside it and begins pulling it into the finished shape he desires it to be. And if it’s good clay, it doesn’t argue.
 
“Woe to him who quarrels with His maker…Does the clay say to the Potter, ‘What are you making?’” Isaiah 45:9
 
Do we do this my friends? I know so many times I have reacted with resistance to the Lord’s shaping and found myself making excuses when He asks things which are inconvenient, scary or out of my comfort zone. I have heard it said, however, you can say “no” or you can say “Lord,” but you cannot say “No, Lord” and mean it. It’s one or the other. Either God is our Lord and we say yes to His will, or He is not Lord, and we say no to what He is calling us to.
 
Now God does answer honest questions and honors those who seek Him, like Ananias when God asked him to go lay his hands on Saul of Tarsus, and he understandably and reverently presented his concerns. God did not rebuke him, nor Mary, when she asked for clarification on how she was to be the mother of Jesus. God may answer our questions or he may not, but no matter what, he is the Potter and we are the clay, and when he says, “Go!” this is exactly what we must do.