HEARTS OF CLAY

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Have Thine Own Way Lord

“Have Thine own way Lord.

Have Thine own way.

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

Mould me and make me.

After Thy will,

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.”

 

This classic hymn was written by Adelaide Pollard. It was inspired by a prayer of an elderly woman overhead in a prayer meeting, “It doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord – just have your way with our lives.” Adelaide was discouraged over not being able to raise enough funds to go on the mission field to Africa. This prayer so inspired her during her time of despondency that she wrote this hymn. Ms. Pollard meditated on the scripture Jeremiah 18:3-4 for the context of this moving hymn.

 

“So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

 

It’s interesting how this scripture gives us an illustration for living the Christian life. The Old Testament reference has to do with the relationship between God and His chosen people. He was communicating in this passage that He was attempting to mold the nation of Israel into a people who would live according to His will and purpose. The analogy works perfectly for us as servants of Christ as well. Do we have hearts of clay that can be molded by our Heavenly Father? To live as a Christian is to be open to be molded and modeled after our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It means we are to be submissive to God working in our lives. It shows us that if we are to be the person we are meant to be, we must humble ourselves in the hands of the Lord.

 

Regarding this subject, Hannah Whitall Smith in her book “The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life” states,

 

“Sanctification is both a step of faith and a process of works. It’s a step of surrender and trust on our part, and it’s a process of development on God’s part…The potter takes the clay that lies passive and submissive in his hands and begins to mold and fashion it according to his own will. He kneads and works it, tears it apart and presses it together again, wets it and then allows it to dry. Sometimes he works at it for hours; sometimes he lays it aside for days and does not touch it. Then, when by all these processes he has made it perfectly pliable in his hands, he proceeds to make it into the vessel he has proposed. He turns it upon the wheel, planes it and smoothes it, dries it in the sun, bakes it in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop – a vessel to his honor and fit for his use.”

 

Ms. Smith makes some important observations in her comments. Her words of the clay as “passive” and “submissive” are very appropriate for both the clay and a servant of Jesus. We are to be passive and submissive to God’s workings in our lives as He fashions us into a work of spiritual art. We cannot resist His touch or we will hinder the process of becoming made in the image of Christ. Imagine if you will a potter attempting to mold a clay pot and the clay fighting back as he attempts to put pressure on its surface. This would not be normal or proper and neither is it normal for a Christian to fight back when God desires to shape their life.

 

Other words that Ms. Smith uses are also revealing such as “tears it apart” and “lays it aside for days.” Often in my own life I have sensed a tearing apart as God worked on my heart, mind and soul. This sometimes involved a renunciation of sin in my life and other times a reorientation of my will to the will of God. It often hurt or was difficult to bend to the touch of God. Sometimes it was because of my selfish pride and sometimes it was my fear of the unknown places that God was taking me. I learned and am still learning to trust God for His wisdom. I know that if I have faith that God loves and cares for me, I can trust in Him no matter what He takes me through. The problem is my flesh and lack of spiritual maturity at times hinders my faith and trust in God. This is why all of us need the support of other Christians to encourage us, the power of the Holy Spirit deal with trials and a good grounding in the scriptures so we know the foundation we stand upon.

 

There are times when we feel that God has abandoned us when His close touch is removed for a period of time. These days often feel like we are in a spiritual desert. Sometimes we experience this because we have pulled away from God and are refusing to be pliable clay in His hands. Other times God may desire for us to process what we have learned and meditate upon its significance. He knows that He must step back from the intimate pressure He has been placing on our souls to allow us to grow even more. In such times He wants us to seek His Spirit for comfort and His word for wisdom. While we may feel like He has left us, He is always only a prayer away and has us under His constant watchful eyes. We must always remember no matter how much we feel that God has removed His touch from us, His Spirit is a constant companion and lives within each of us as Believers.

 

The overwhelming and marvelous experience in the Christian life is of course sensing the close touch and pressure of God’s hands on our lives. Often we can feel Him close as we see what He is doing in our lives through situations and testings. The Holy Spirit within us comforts and guides us as we learn to trust in God as we walk the righteous path. It is a privilege and an honor to be part of God’s family and to have a Heavenly Father who loves us the way we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way. As we grow in our love for Christ we become more and more submissive and pliable in His hands and benefit greatly from the process of the Master Potter molding His beloved clay into the precious creation that He has planned before we were ever born. An old poem written by an unknown author sums up both the scripture in Jeremiah and the illustration of the potter and his clay when it says…

 

 

“I AM WILLING-

To receive what Thou givest,

To lack what Thou withholdest,

To relinquish what Thou takest,

To surrender what Thou claimest,

To suffer what Thou ordainest,

To do what Thou commandest,

To wait until Thou sayest ‘Go.’” 

 

Do you have a heart of clay, willing to be molded by your Heavenly Father?