Shaped By the Potter’s Hand

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 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.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ Jeremiah 18:1-11     

I love the hymn, “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” written by Adelaide Pollard. Here is the story of that hymn.

Adelaide was discouraged. Living in Chicago she taught at several girls' schools. She was also recognized in the city for her admirable ability as an itinerant Bible teacher. Yet, she knew her real calling was to go to Africa as a missionary. A seemingly impossible task for she was unable to raise the money to fund the expedition.

One night, while walking the streets in contemplation, she stopped in on a prayer meeting. She listened to the very simple prayer of an elderly woman, whose words expressed the discontent in Pollard's own heart. The lady prayed, "It really doesn't matter what you do with us, Lord - just have your own way with our lives."

Returning home, Pollard kept thinking about the lady's simple prayer. This led her to study the story parable of the potter in the book of Jeremiah. She began reading, "Then I went down to the potter's house…" Before retiring for the evening, Pollard wrote the popular hymn, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord." Pollard did not make it to Africa in that year of 1902, but God continued to mold her into an outstanding teacher and evangelist for a ministry in Chicago.

This story of the hymn is personal from my ministry. A member’s daughter (Margi) was married to a pastor (Marvin) serving the Fort Madison Presbyterian Church, Fort Madison, Iowa. They were visiting First Presbyterian Church, Prairie City, Illinois, where I was pastor. We were going to sing this very hymn and Margi asks to speak about this hymn. By Margi’s account, Fort Madison was the hometown where Adelaide lived before she was in Chicago. Margi told the same story that I have shared. Now a strange twist in this is the last name of the Pastor - Rev. Marvin and his Wife, Margi Potter!

Just take a look at the 1^st verse: 

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.

It concludes that what the Potter’s hand would form in us and mold in us is expressed by the concluding words that people would see “Christ only living in me.” 

Prayer: Lord God, Master Potter, may Your Hand graciously mold us and make us to Your will that we may be yielded and still. It is a life’s work that seemingly never ends. But may the result be that people will see “Christ only living in me.”  Amen

Rev. Dr. John J. Duling