THE POTTER’S TRIMMING

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us – Hebrews 11:2

The Master Potter not only desires that each of His children display the beauties and glories of His beloved Son, He knows exactly that function or service He designed each one to perform. He has, in perfect wisdom and love, put each lump of clay, dug from the pit of sin, through the necessary cleansing, kneading and forming pressures as He sees best, all in order to create a vessel of honour and splendour that might fulfil His will and effectively glorify Him.

The Master Potter trims away our excess and unneeded clay so that we may effectively and victoriously run the race of faith. Each ribbon of excess clay left on the vessel only adds weight, hindering divine processing. Our Lord uses an array of “tools” – people, circumstances, events, and even our errors and weaknesses – for the final work of trimming and finishing each vessel. These finishing processes though uncomfortable – even painful at times – are absolutely necessary in order that each be able to fulfil “that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

Consider the kinds of “trimming” that many of God’s dear servants endured, as recorded in the Scriptures. Joseph spent an appreciable part of his life as a slave and later a prisoner in Egypt, but not in vain. These trimming sessions resulted in the testimony in Genesis 41:39-42: “And Pharaoh said to Joseph ... You shall be over my house, and according to your word shall all my people be ruled ... I have set you over all the land of Egypt”. Before Joseph could be elevated and exalted in glory in Egypt, he had to go down in humiliation under those very unkind circumstances.

Moses spent forty years in the backside of the desert where all of his fleshly pride, carnal wisdom and worldly ability he had attained in Egypt were trimmed away. The outcome is found in Numbers 12:3: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth”. The LORD who was to use him to lead the proud, contentious children of Israel across the wilderness knew that Moses required such humility!

Hebrews 11 presents the remarkable record of God’s vessels, formed and trimmed through trying and challenging circumstances, and who through these became models of faith to us. These were trimmed to varying degrees, in tune with the Potter’s design and details for their destinies! He trims us to become fit and proper for His divine purpose. He trims us to make us triumphant!