Trust the Potter

Psalm 25:1-10

1 In you, LORD my God, I put my trust.
2 I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, 
nor let my enemies triumph over me. 3 No one 
who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but 
shame will come on those who are treacherous 
without cause.
4 Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. 
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are 
God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 
6 Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, 
for they are from of old. 7 Do not remember the 
sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according 
to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.
8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs 
sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is 
right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the 
LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep 
the demands of his covenant.

The season of Lent is full of rich imagery that helps us as journeyers place our stories into the larger narrative of Jesus’ journey to the cross. These images are great because although they are only analogies, they help us to understand better what God has already proclaimed to be true and how he is calling us to respond. An image that I find particularly meaningful for the season of Lent is to imagine our lives like clay in the hands of a skilled potter.
In a sense, we are like clay. Clay can be soft or hard; pliable and plastic or stubborn and disobedient. Naturally, hard clay is much harder to work with. It seems like hard clay wants to fight the potter, as if it doesn’t trust the craftsman to shape it into something beautiful. The clay may resist the potter’s touch because it’s internalized the lie that it is too far gone, too hard to offer itself for the potter’s use.
The best thing about hard clay is that it doesn’t have to stay hard clay.
When I read the words of Psalm 25, I hear David yearning to be shaped in the image of God. He trusts that God will teach him right paths and will guide him in truth. In other words, he is praying that his heart may become like soft clay so that God can craft him in truth.
As you embark on this journey to the cross this Lenten season, I encourage you to trust that God is both able and willing to lead you closer to him. What is required is to trust that the potter will form in his ways if you offer yourself to be molded. Even if you feel like the clay of your heart is far too hard to be re-wedged and re-worked, have hope because God has a marvelous way of softening our hearts when we offer our lives to him with a yearning to go deeper. And when you submit your heart to the potter’s touch you will find that the shaping process becomes more natural as the form of your heart more closely reflects the intention and character of the one who is forming you.

Daniel Reffner is a sophomore Religion/Philosophy major at Southwestern College