Sculpting

Jeremiah 18 details an intimate look at how God deals with Israel.  Jeremiah wrote that he "went down to the potter's house" and that "[the potter] was making something at the wheel.  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make" (18:3-4).  God told Jeremiah, "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" (18:6). 

Although the context of Jeremiah 18 concerns Israel, it is not unreasonable to suggest that God deals likewise with all of His people.  That is, it is important for God's children to understand that we are the clay and God is the potter.  As the clay, we are at the will of the Father and as the potter, God has power over the clay.  According to the Bible's revelation of God, we can know that when God forms the clay, His desire is to remove all of the bad lumps that get in the way of us becoming a pure product.  A good illustration of this is found in the work of Michelangelo, the Renaissance artist.

About five hundred years ago, Michelangelo completed his masterpiece David, and was heavily praised for its beauty.  Michelangelo, however, refused the praise, suggesting that he had really done nothing at all.  Michelangelo's response was that the image of David was in the rock from creation and that his hands were merely the tools used to remove the excess stone that revealed the beauty placed there by God so many years ago.

Like Michelangelo's David, we are born covered in a block of stone and God desires to work to remove the excess stone from our lives.  Sometimes this process can be difficult, but the end product is always more beautiful than we can ever imagine.