"The Work Of Your Hands"

In Isaiah 64:8 it says: O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
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When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was to play with play-dough! I liked to create animals with it. Making elephants was the best because I needed big round balls for the body and the head. I could roll it round and round till I got them just the right sizes and shapes. Next came the big flat ears. Squishing it flat was as much fun as rolling it into balls.  I would then take a ball and roll it back and forth on the table till it looked like a snake. I would use that to make the four legs and the trunk! I would use little pieces to make the eyes and tail, and to add all the little details. Sometimes I would even add a blanket, and pretend someone was riding on it.

Other times I would mess up. The legs would end up too small for the size of the elephants body, or the ears would be too big! So, I would start over. The best thing about play-dough is its soft and squishy so it was easy to start over by turning it back into a lump. Then just redo the part that is wrong. As the kid doing the creating you just keep trying till you get it just the way you like it.

Now you  may think its a little odd that I started talking to you about play-dough but the truth is Jesus told  us to come to Him as little children. As a child I loved and understood how play-dough worked. I understood that I could put it all back in a lump and start over when I needed to fix something. As adults we don't seem to embrace that concept in our lives quite so easy. We often seem to resist or struggle with the times when our heavenly Father is being the potter; and we are the work of His hand.  Sometimes change is necessary.

John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease."John 3:30 in reference to Jesus. If we are to be play-dough or clay or even silly putty in the hands of our heavenly Father than we need to have a heart that cries out the same thing. We need to have an the attitude that is willing to be molded and reworked till we are 'conformed to the image of His Son.' Romans 8:29 Our heart must be willing to let go of our desires and to allow Him to work more and more of Jesus and His likeness in our lives. Like John, our hearts desire must be, "More of Jesus, less of me!"

Psalm 17:15 says, "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." I don't know about you but I love the idea that He can help me to surrender more and more of my actions and more importantly my attitudes so that He can help me to awake in His likeness.


LORD, My prayer for us today is that you would help us to be open to the process of being molded into Your image.  Lord, that You would increase in or lives to the point that every word and deed would be a  reflection of  who You are!

Lord, that we would long for more of You. Let us be "the clay, and the work of your hands."