There was an air of expectancy among the potter's family. Everyone had risen earlier than usual and the conversation seemed more animated, more energetic. The potter ate his breakfast quickly, immediately leaving for his studio with eager anticipation. This would be the first day of the actual pottery forming process—a time the potter particularly relished because of the joy he felt as his skilled hands formed the inert clay into the beautiful vessels that were pictured in his mind.
During this process, every member of the potter's family had a particular task assigned to them—each one an important part of the whole process. One was responsible to see that the various wedged spheres of clay were readily available as the potter needed them. Another carefully removed from the wheel the bat containing a newly created, wet, and easily marred vessel Each was carried with great care to a special storage, drying room.
Another provided a constant supply of water; tools and other things the potter required. Removing excess clay as well as marred vessels was the chore of yet another family member.
However, only one would be responsible for determining the final shape and use of each hand-thrown pot—that belonged to the master alone. He kept no notes, had no drawings, and looked at no pictures as he created each unique piece of pottery. Each pot created over each two-three week throwing cycle was unique—given form by the master's artistry and according to his will.
Though there was conversation during the throwing, it seemed muted as the master set down at the potter's wheel, placed the first lump of clay on its circular top, and with his legs began kicking the heavy counter balance which formed the base of the wheel.
He skillfully added water to the spinning lump of clay, bent over it and with hands carefully and firmly positioned, began to exert a downward pressure. With a rapid, deft movement which appeared deceptively easy, the wobbling lump of clay suddenly, almost imperceptibly spun into center—so perfectly centered in fact, that the surface of the clay lump no longer appeared to be spinning.
With another swift, precise movement the potter pressed his thumbs together and down into the center of the clay, creating what appeared to be a large donut. Carefully bracing his arms, the fingers of his hands began to gently exert pressure both from the inside and from the outside, pulling a wall of clay upwards, forming a tall cylindrical shape.
As the wheel spun, the potter was careful to keep his hands securely anchored and pressed against the vessel. This was important not only in the forming process, but to insure the clay would not follow its natural inclination to spin out of control, away from the center of the wheel and the potter's grip. His gentle, firm, yet unyielding pressure kept the vessel "in center" and under his control.
Feeling Pressure
By nature, we don't like it much when the pressures of life bear down on us (let him take up his cross and follow me-Matt. 16:2424Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)).As with Job or Peter we may find ourselves saying, when feeling the pressures from the outside, or being constrained from the inside to walk a path not of our choosing, "Lord why...? Why have You allowed these trials in my life?”
The Lord Jesus may allow difficulties from outside—the world, our friends, our jobs, etc.—all to keep us close to Him, to restrain us from spinning away from His loving control. At other times He may allow pressures, thoughts, or fears from within make us feel our helplessness and need of His guidance. Oh! how very much we need that constant, unyielding, and loving pressure of the Potter's hands in our lives.
In Job 3, having lost everything including his health, dear Job finally gives in to the intense pressure he felt and six times in that chapter asks, "why?" Though he felt the very painful pressure of circumstances which were beyond his control, dear Job had yet to learn they were but pressure allowed from the Master Potter's hands—pressure that was forming him into that which was pleasing and glorifying to the Lord.
Without our blessed God's divine pressure and restrictions in our lives, we would act according to the natural bent of our own wills and find disaster—a formless lump of clay spinning out of control—like sheep going our own way (Isa. 53).
Every responsible parent understands the importance of discipline—of saying "no" at times—if their children are to be happy and satisfied. May we understand it better in our own lives when our all wise and perfect Father restrains us from a path that would ultimately lead to unhappiness and ruin—a path ending in an unformed, useless vessel of service for Him.
Questioning Why
The answer to our sometimes unbelieving question "why" is heard in the amazement and awe of the multitude as they bear testimony to the power and perfection of the Lord Jesus—"He does all things well" (Mark 7:3737And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. (Mark 7:37), J. N. D. trans.). Why is some trial or difficulty happening to you? Because the Lord is allowing it in order to shape and mold you to what He wants and He makes no mistakes. Remember, the purpose of our Potter's pressure is not only formative, but also protective.
Spinning Out of Control
According to a principle of physics—the law of centrifugal force—a mass that is spinning around a central axis will always seek to move away from that center. It is the natural instinct, if we may so speak, for a spinning object to do this, and so it is with we who are Christians.
Our old nature always moves away from (not nearer to) God. Cain began the movement (or, we might say, was the first to prove the existence of that moral law of fallen man) in Gen. 4. Given a choice of repenting and staying in the presence of the only One who could grant forgiveness and blessing to him, Cain spun out of control, willingly going away from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 4:1616And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16)).
Believers still have the flesh—that wicked, unredeemable old nature which wants to only follow its own will. "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way"(Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)).The tendency of our natural heart is to always seek to spin away from the Center, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. When this happens we find ourselves morally out of control.
Pressures From Outside and Inside
We noticed that as the potter slowly pulled the cylinder up from the ball of clay, he had to exert pressure both on the inside as well as the outside. Even pressure from both directions is required if the wall of a clay vessel is to acquire the necessary strength, smoothness and thickness it needs.
Often a believer the Lord is preparing for service in some special work is allowed to go through severe trials and difficulties (from inside and outside) as he or she is being formed for some special ministry.
We see this happening in many Old Testament Saints' lives such as Joseph, Nehemiah, Daniel, and others and in the New Testament we find the same. The Apostle Paul was beaten, hungry, the object of murderous plots—multitudes of pressures—yet all these outside trials were allowed by the Lord in the forming process of the beloved Apostle's life.
Of the inside pressures Paul experienced we read, "Besides those things that are without, the crowd of cares pressing on me daily, the burden of all the assemblies" (2 Cor. 11:2828Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:28), JND Trans.). Even Paul's spiritual children were allowed to bring pressure to bear upon this special vessel of God's ministry. He speaks to the Corinthians,"/ will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved" (2 Cor. 12:1515And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2 Corinthians 12:15)) and to the Galatians, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain".
Necessary Pressure
As much as we naturally would shy away from trials and difficulties in life, we must see that they are allowed by the loving heart and in the perfect divine wisdom of our Master Potter. Let us never forget that it is those very pressures, uncomfortable as they may be, which are the means by which each vessel of honor is formed into something useful and beautiful for God. Oh! That we might remember when we feel the pressure of His loving hands, it is because He is forming us into that which is pleasing to Himself!