Jeremiah 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. 8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.
Possibly the most difficult thing (actually, impossible) for a human being to do is to come to the Supreme and Sovereign of the universe as clay. This implies that the clay has bowed from the heart all of its rights to its mind, heart, and all possessions to the Lord. This is to say that for a human being to come to God as clay it must deny self, die to self, and/or to be removed from the throne of the life of self. This is not just something that happens once, but is a daily if not hourly (or more) spiritual battle. The human clay must plead with the Lord for understanding of who He is and then of who the clay really is. This realization of who self is must include what self is by creation, nature, and then as before God in those. This will include recognizing that we are in the power of sin to the degree that God has hardened us in sin or simply that we can do no good apart from Christ. However one looks at it, all human beings are the work of His hand and He can do with us as He pleases. This is one thing to recognize in a theological statement, but it is quite another for the Spirit of the living God to bring it home to the depths of the soul. It will shake every foundation that one thought that s/he had. It can be very traumatic.
Before this realization comes home to a person, that person lives for self even if the person takes the name of Christian. The person may think that s/he trusts in Christ and obeys God, but when the realization of being clay comes home to the soul that person will realize that it may be the case that most if not all of the “obedience” it thought it had was really nothing but actions flowing from self-love. The soul may realize that it actually lived for self and loved self and all that it thought was obedience to God was nothing more than living out of self-interest and love for self. The soul that thought it was religious and a nice person now realizes that it was full of nothing but rebellion and idolatry as it lived for self and tried to use God in the service of self. The sinful nature that is so full of self will constantly act as if God is clay and is to be molded to the will of self and so religion is viewed as a form of manipulation in order to get God to give self what it pleases. Regardless of a person’s theological persuasion, it appears that self appears and tries to use God and religion to get what self wants.
In Isaiah 64 we see a pattern in verses 7-8. Isaiah has been awakened and sees that no one is really calling on the name of God, though indeed we can be sure that the forms of worship were being dutifully carried forward. Isaiah now sees that no one is arousing self to take hold of God, but he sees the reason why. It is because God has hidden His face from them and so delivered them into the power of sin. The reason why people were not praying is because God had turned His face from them and gave them over to the power of sin. Isaiah then comes the acute realization that he and the whole nation was in the hands of God to do with as He pleased, which is that the Lord had taught Jeremiah.
That acute realization that we cannot pray and we cannot seek the face of the Lord apart from humility and apart from being clay in the Potter’s hand is what we must strive for. Prayer meetings are mockery whether they last ten minutes or ten days apart from coming to the Lord as clay. It is this deep and disturbing realization that the most religious people will resist and flee from. This acute realization will drive all hope in the things and will of self from the heart and people will see that God is sovereign and they have no way of obtaining grace but in accordance with His good pleasure. After all, true prayer is seeking His face and praying for His will to be done, though indeed it seems as if the vast majority of attempted prayer is to get God to do what I/we want to be done.
God Loves... Himself 
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