Food For Thought Series Continued...

Pottery Plans

Sometimes we face great pain in our lives and we blame it on many factors, including God. Because of the sense of blame and self pity, we fall into several traps: Anger, frustration, unforgiveness etc...By time we become chained and eventually these feelings build strongholds in our lives that become immensely difficult to break down. We read God's word and promises and we feel they are so distant. In fact, God Himself becomes distant, because we have shut ourselves away from Him, refusing to hear his reasons and his divine purpose.

Then, because of His constant providence, He continues to strip us away from worldly solutions. All of a sudden, we find ourselves cornered with no way out but Him. At this time our prayers become different. We no longer pray, 'Get me out of this' or 'Help me get out of this' but we pray, 'Lord I have tried but I have failed. I have no solution but you.' Then the surmounting peace of the Lord overcomes your heart and mind. You find yourself yielding. Yes, yielding. The key word. We yield and surrender our all. And we realize that this is all He wanted from the beginning.

I have come to realize that we do not yield for two reasons:

1. Our inability to logically accept the solution. We wonder how and why and keep running around in a vicious circle because the situation defies logic and what should be right.
2. Our inability to accept pain in a certain area of our lives. Quite often, we store up treasures for ourselves in a certain place on earth: Our careers, our relationships, our possessions, our children etc. And we fear losing them. We fear failing in that area. We fear any harm that might touch these things. However, in reality, we are actually fearing the Hand of the Lord. We are fearing His 'pottery plans.' We would actually sometimes pray, 'Lord touch anything, take away anything but that.' And the Lord decides to strike just that to consecrate our hearts and minds only for Him.

Once we stop arguing with the Potter, we know the truth and it sets us free. His shaping is still painful, but merged with loving touces. His fingers become sometimes unpredictable, but He slowly reveals His plan. His pressure might become unbearable, but His accompanying Breath of Life eases the furnace. The shape might look strange, but our slow yielding will break the shell of our understanding. The process is slow but every day of yielding brings closer His deliverance.