“Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” Jeremiah 18:2-4

Like Clay/Are You Baked?

Have you ever watched a clay bowl being made by a potter? It’s so mesmerizing to see them throw a soft lump onto the potter’s wheel to create what they envision. If the clay gets off center or they make a mistake, they simply smash the clay into its original lump and start over again. The clay can be reformed over and over again until it gets fired in the kiln, or baked.

After the bowl has been baked, it gets both stronger and more fragile. It is strong enough to hold its shape and hold whatever you choose to put in it. But if it gets dropped, that’s the end of the bowl. Sometimes it will break into a few large pieces and can be glued together. Other times it shatters, and there is no hope for putting together the tiny shards.

In our Christian circles, we love to use this analogy, that we are all clay being formed by the Potter’s hands. We say we want to be pliable, and to be formed however the Lord chooses. I know I desire this type of obedience. However, we forget that at times we are going to get baked.

I might be having a perfectly good day, when someone will say or do something that upsets me.  Suddenly my day is ruined, because I got baked, and I am no longer pliable. I know that I got baked in childhood, when I transformed from being a happy little lump of clay into a hardened pot when circumstances shattered me many times over.

So how do we get un-baked? Sometimes we can control whether or not we’re going to get baked; i.e., choosing to not let another’s words or actions control our feelings. For the parts of me that are hardened clay, I like these words from 1 Peter 5:10: “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

Sometimes un-baking can take a long time, but I do know that God is the only One who can undo it! Take a moment to think through the things that have baked you, and pray with me:

“Father, I confess that I sometimes allow circumstances to make me hardened. I lay before You the hurts that have left me shattered. ‘Heal me, LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise’ (Jeremiah 17:4). In Jesus’ name. Amen.”