Lump of Clay

DEVOTION

ROMANS

LUMP OF CLAY

Rom 9:19-21

19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"   21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

NIV

This is almost impossible to just say in this portion for Paul keeps on making his point through the whole of this chapter and actually beyond. When he wrote it, and sent it to the church, or gathering, someone would have read the whole of the letter out loud. Many of the people may have been illiterate so any who could read would then read it for the rest of the people. But we have to take it in smaller sections and there are many truths to explore. Here we would understand God’s will is supreme. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that we really do not have any say as to who we are, or what we do for a living, or where we live, or what kind of service we do for our Lord? When we review some of the men of faith in the Old Testament we see God working in their lives bringing them to a place of where he can use them to demonstrate his glory. He did call them to do something special. We look at Noah, Abraham and Lot, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, David, Solomon, and or course the prophets, and we see God using them for his glory. He made or fashioned them into pottery for noble purpose. We cannot even attempt to compare ourselves to that kind of pottery, as we would have to conclude we have been fashion for common use. We think about men of more modern times who surely were fashioned for noble purposes. Men such as Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley and even closer to our present age, D.L. Moody and Billy Graham. There are others but we get the picture that we are nowhere within being that kind of pottery. When we think about the local church and our place in the body, we must know God has fashioned us into just the right kind of pottery for his purpose. We are just a lump of clay, being molded by God into whatever kind of pottery he desires. It does depend on our willingness to be that lump of clay.  We can live according to our own will, even being a Christian. We could decide to become a preacher, but if it were by our will and not his, we might preach well, but all we would be doing is holding water, as any normal clay pot could do. Unless we submit to his choice for how he uses us, we simple are not living a life of clay in the hands of the potter. We think of the song “Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me. Fill me, use me. Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me.” Then there is the more famous song about the potters hand that include the words, “Take me, mold me, use me, fill me, I give my live to the Potter’s hand. Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me, I give my life to the Potter’s hand.” We can choose to live a life of our making, or we can choose to be that lump of clay. Which is better?