I love the analogy of the potter and the lump of clay. When the potter places the clay on the wheel it is just a lump. Bumpy and full of knots. But, as the potter spins the wheel and applies pressure, the clay goes thru a transformation. The lumps get worked out bit by bit until a beautiful piece of artwork is formed. God uses trials to help form us. Each difficulty isn't there to discourage us, but to refine us. When someone offends us, we need to overlook it. When someone is hard to get along with, we make allowances for them. As we spin on the wheel and pass each test that comes our way, we step into a new level of our destiny. We need to understand that each irritation is not God trying to make our lives miserable. He just knows there is a masterpiece in all of us, waiting to be formed. So often we ask God to change our circumstances, change that person, etc, but what God is wanting to do is change us. When you can be happy, not because of your circumstances, but in spite of them, then nothing can take your joy.
I read a story of a teacup that was sitting on the shelf in an antique shop. A couple picked up the teacup to look more closely at it, admiring it for its beauty, the teacup began to talk.
"I haven't always looked like this," it said. "There was a time that nobody wanted me. I wasn't attractive. I was just a hard lump of clay. But then this potter came along and shaped and molded me."
The teacup told the couple that the process was painful so it said to the potter, "'Hey! What are you doing? You're making me uncomfortable. That hurts. Leave me alone.'"
The potter simply smiled and replied, "Not yet."
Then the potter put the teacup on a wheel and began to spin it around and around.
"I got so dizzy," the teacup told the couple, "but after a while I had taken on a new shape. He formed me into this teacup you admire. I thought he was finished, but then he put me into a furnace. It was so hot I didn't think I could stand it. When he came and checked on me and looked through the furnace window, he had a sparkle in his eyes. I screamed out, 'Let me out of here! Its' too hot!' But he smiled and said, 'Not yet'. He finally took me out and put me up on a shelf so I could cool off. I thought 'Thank goodness it's over. Now I can go back to being my normal self.' But then the potter painted me, changing me from the old gray color to this beautiful blue.
The teacup went on to tell the couple that the paint was sticky and uncomfortable. "I thought I was going to choke. I told the potter to stop, but he said, 'Not yet.' Then he put me into a second oven twice as hot as the first one. This time I knew it was over. I screamed, 'I'm not kidding! I can't take it! I'm going to die!'
Again the potter said 'Not yet.'
"Finally, he opened the oven door, and put me on a shelf. A few weeks later he came by and handed me a mirror, and when I looked at myself I couldn't believe how beautiful I had become. I couldn't believe how much I had changed. I didn't look like that old lump of clay I used to be. There was a time that nobody wanted me, but now I'm this beautiful teacup; valuable, expensive, and unique, all because of this potter. He made me into something amazing."
This is how God shapes us. He sees our potential, but along the way we have to go thru the fire. We have to endure the hard times, the heat, so that we can come out stronger and more beautiful than before. Scripture says that after we have passed the test, we will receive the victor's crown of life. So, pass your test. Don't fight the wheel. Let God refine you.
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