THE POTTER’S PATIENCE

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain – James 5:7

Jeremiah in his dark and tumultuous days, had the prompting to leave the temple and the city, and journey alone into the valley of Hinnom, where he saw the potter at work moulding the clay of the valley into form and fashioning it according to his purpose. But there appeared to be apparent failure: the clay did not take shape; there was some hidden defect that seemed to hinder the plastic sync of wheel and hand. As the prophet watched, expecting the ‘failed clay’ to be cast aside, he saw how the potter triumphed over the difficulty and turned the clay into a more beautiful and functional vessel.

God, the Potter is extremely patient. For our sakes, His eternal wheels rotate within the cycles of Time. He never abandons the Vessel on hand. He sees every willing lump of clay through unto perfection. Although the clay was deformed it remained in the potter’s hand. He pressed the marred vessel back into a lump. As long as it was pliable, He reworked and reformed it into a satisfactory vessel. Added to His skill, the potter's patience permitted him to reform the vessel. It takes Time for a potter to transform a lump of clay into a beautiful vessel. Likewise, it takes Time for God to transform each of us His children into His desired vessel of honour, conformed to the image of Christ. 

In the portrait of the Potter and the clay, Divine Patience is linked with Divine Power. We do not see in the potter at work what God can do IF it pleases Him, but what it pleases Him to do; not what He MAY do with the clay, but what He purposed to. He patiently processes His purposes for individual and collective destinies into His Divine pattern. There is nothing arbitrary in His procedure. Every of the Potter’s decision and action is regulated by a reference to His Plan. Divine Patience is relentlessly and consistently at work. Divine Patience perseveres in the accomplishment of divine design: “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).

Your Life may seem or indeed be marred and broken, but the patient God can turn it around into a vessel of exquisite beauty and great utility. You are a work in progress. Be patient; the patient Potter isn’t finished with you yet!