Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
ISAIAH 64:8
People like to leave their mark, don’t they? All around the world, you can find statues, monuments, and towers. Some were built to honor someone or something greatly admired. Others were built to gratify someone’s ego or soothe their grief. In South Dakota, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was originally conceived as a way to promote tourism, but the sculptor envisioned a shrine to democracy. Blasted and carved out between 1927 and 1941, the sixty-foot faces of four U.S. presidents look out from the granite cliffs. And it does bring tourists; nearly three million people visit each year.
God also desires to leave a mark—on us. As it says in Isaiah 64:8, we are the work of His hand. How reassuring that is! He created us, and He continues to mold us to become what He planned us to be. That contradicts the wisdom of the world, doesn’t it? We are not the sole designer of our lives. He is our Maker!
The Lord also cautions us in Isaiah 45:9: “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?” As beings created by Him, we need to respect Him!
But Isaiah 64:8 offers us another encouraging insight. In this verse, we are clay, a soft, malleable material. The potter doesn’t need to blast the clay with dynamite or drill with jackhammers to shape it, as the workers did on Mount Rushmore. When we offer soft hearts and flexible wills to God, He can fulfill His purpose for us gently.