Oh, how we need to hear the voice of the Lord. Come with me to the potter's house and hear what it says to you. 

The work beings in a small, dark, closed shed. There is a repulsive odor as the door opens to this shed, and the stench of decaying matter fills your nostrils. On the floor of the shed is a gaping dark pit. 

Here is where the work begins. The potter reaches into the dark pit with a long thin arm, and his slim, skilled fingers are feeling around in the lumpy clay searching for a fragment of material exactly suited to his task. At times he adds special kinds of grass to the mud. As it rots and decays its organic content increases the collodial quality of the clay; it sticks together better then. Finally his knowing hands bring up a lump of dark mud from the horrible pit where the clay has been trampled and mixed for hours by his hard bony feet. 

He then sits down at his wheel to make his vessel. His wheel is a crude tread-like device worked by his feet like our old sewing machines. On each side of the potter's stool are two basins of water. He never touches the clay without first dipping his hands into the water. Water is the medium through which the potter's will and wishes are transmitted to the clay. His will is actually being done in earth. Here is the mysterious truth of the Father's will, and wishes, being transmitted to us through the water of His own word and the working of the Holy Spirit. 

As you watch the potter, suddenly he stops the wheel from turning, and removes a piece of grit. Again another hard object appears. He stops it again and looks at the vessel. There is a deep gouge scarred in it. Now it is ruined beyond repair. He crushes it down with his hands. The vessel is ruined by resistance. 

Why do we end in disaster? There is only one reason. We resist God's will. We must hear the voice of the "Potter." It is He that decides what He will do with the clay (Rom. 9:21). He is the one that makes us to differ (1 Cor. 4:7). 

Oh, may we seek grace from our gracious "Potter" to pray, to sing His song. "Father, Thy will be done on earth (in clay) in us, as it is done in heaven to Your glory that we may be vessels of gold and silver, giving glory and honor to your name" (II Tim. 2:20). 

To you who are still without God, there is great hope. Cry unto the Lord and wait patiently for Him to do His work. He will bring you up out of this horrible pit and set your feet upon a rock (the Lord Jesus Christ), and then He will put a new song in your mouth (His Song), and many shall see it and fear and trust in Him, and you shall be blessed forever and forever (Psa.40:1-2). 

May it be so, even today.