I often think about Isaiah’s words about the potter and the clay. I know God is my Creator and the potter in the story. Yet, as the clay, I often make my own plans and ask God to bless them. It is like the clay telling the potter what to do instead of the other way around.
You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?
Shall the thing made say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,
“He has no understanding”? (Isaiah 29:16)
As Stephen defended his actions before Jerusalem’s rulers, he explained that Moses once acted like the clay instead of following the potter’s guidance. Moses took matters into his own hands, with disastrous results.
“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his kinfolk, the Israelites. When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.” (Acts 7:23-24)
When clay tries to justify not following the potter’s directions, it often says, “The ends justify the means.” In this story, Moses acts this way, but later deeply regrets it.
Moses thought no one had seen him kill the Egyptian. But the next day, when he tried to stop two Jewish men from fighting, they called him out for it.
“Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” (Acts 7:27-28)
It would be hard to listen to the news today without seeing the same mindset Moses showed, where the ends seem to justify the means. Moses had to flee Egypt and remain away for 40 years.
People today may not realize it, but God’s word is true. Paul was right when he said we will all give an account for our actions.
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. (Galatians 6:7)
The Potter in Charge
Moses could have spent the rest of his life in Midian caring for sheep, but God had bigger plans for him.
The same is true for us. We often live as if we can tell the Potter what to do with us, the clay. Yet God graciously steps into our lives, just as He did with Moses. As Stephen continued his defense, he told of how God rescued Moses from a misspent life.
After 40 years of tending sheep, God met Moses in the wilderness at the burning bush. He told him, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God told Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground.
Then God gave him his commission. The Potter was now in charge, and Moses was to willingly let Him mold the remainder of his life.
Henry Blackaby often uses this story to explain the difference between clay telling the potter what to do and asking Him to bless its plans, versus discovering what the potter is doing and shaping our plans around His.
Stephen reminded the crowd of what God told Moses:
“I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.” (Acts 7:34)
It is important to see how God takes the initiative in rescuing His people. He called Moses, saw the people’s suffering, heard their groaning, and came down to save them. Yet Moses, like clay in God’s hands, was to be shaped into the instrument God would use to rescue His people.
Our Past Redeemed
It is just like humans to ignore God as our Creator and act as if we, the clay, have the right to demand that the world fit our wants, desires, and plans.
We use all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify our behavior, whether we believe the ends justify the means or use some other excuse. In the end, we are like clay trying to shape the world around us instead of shaping our lives around the Lord.
Only God’s grace can change our human intent to live according to our own desires. We need an encounter with God. When we meet Him, we learn that He is the potter and we are the clay. No one can shape our lives better than God.
He has a plan for each of us. It may not be to rescue millions of slaves after 400 years of suffering, but it is still exactly what God wants us to do and become.
Praise God for His grace that rescues us from the failures of our past.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Acts 7:17-34 on YouTube today.
