The Shape Of You
By Dr. Ang Chin Sim
What does this title bring to your mind? Some body dysmorphia or Ed Sheeran’s song? My daughter recently did a ceramics course. It took many hours of hands-on time and practice shaping clay into different creations, starting from basic to more elaborate designs. Her hard work paid off, and each end product was excitingly different from the original lump of clay that she started with.
Pottery making then and now
This experience inspired me to revisit the “Potter and Clay” analogy mentioned in the Bible. God is called the Potter, and we are the clay. Although this analogy made sense in the past, I had never really delved into it in much detail until I was exposed vicariously to the steps of pottery making via my daughter.
In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet was told by God to go to the potter’s house, where he found a potter holding a misshapen lump of clay. It pleased the potter to remould it into a vessel that was good to him.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. (Jeremiah 18:1-4 RSV)
Pottery making has not changed much since the time of Jeremiah. In ancient days, the potter used a manually rotating wheel, for which the speed was controlled by the potter’s foot using a little treadle. Modern-day potters may use an electric motor to turn the wheel, but this is still controlled by the potter’s foot. Through the centuries and to this day, potters use clay, put it on the wheel, skillfully shape and mould it into the vessel in mind. As we go through the steps of pottery making, let’s see how this applies to “the shape of you”.
Clay needs water
To mould the clay, water needs to be added to make the clay soft and pliable. Clay that does not have enough water is brittle and breaks up as it is turned on the wheel. God’s word is like water. If we want God to mould us, we need to be watered by the Word of God. By immersing ourselves in the Word, the Holy Spirit can convict us and speak to us regarding things in our lives that need remodelling. Just like how water is essential to our physical bodies, the Word of God is essential to a Christian’s shaping and changing to be more like Christ.
Some of our hearts are hard, and God is unable to do anything in our lives. A hard lump of clay can’t be used to mould a vessel. However, there is hope for a hardened lump of clay. All you need to do is soak it for a few days in a bucket of water, and then it can be conditioned to the appropriate consistency for usage.
Similarly, if we resist God initially due to hardened hearts, God can still do good work in us if we yield to Him and allow our souls to be watered. As water needs to be added from time to time as the clay turns on the wheel, so the Word of God needs to be continually added to our lives. Otherwise, the process of moulding gets hindered.
Clay needs to be centred on the wheel
An important first step for pottery making is to centre the clay on the wheel. If the clay is not centred, the shaping process will run into trouble, although it may not be apparent initially. It’s one of the most boring things that a pottery student needs to learn, yet essential. Sometimes we go for the mediocre, like being just slightly off centre, and think that it will do. When the wheel starts turning on an off-centred piece of clay, it may form a shape initially, but as it gets pulled and stretched, it will break up eventually.
Similarly, we need to be perfectly centred on Jesus Christ, which means we need to have complete surrender and allow Him to have full control over our lives. If we try to live our lives on our own and not entirely centred on Him, when difficulties and times of testing start to pull on our lives, we can rip and tear apart because we weren’t centred in the first place, to begin with.
Clay moulding needs to be at a timely and steady pace
In this day and age, we’re used to having things at a fast pace. We have our instant food, e.g. instant noodles, instant bank transfer of money, high-speed internet, express transportation, and we even play Youtube videos at 2 X the speed because we’re impatient with slowness.
When making a vessel, the potter has the wheel turning at an appropriate and steady pace. Sometimes God’s timing is too slow for us, and we want to speed up the process. If the potter puts the wheel turning at a very fast speed, the clay can suddenly rip apart. Some of us get impatient with the process of God shaping us, and we want to get there quickly and be over and done with it. Nevertheless, God the Master Potter has a different timing from us mere humans. When we allow it to be done in His timing, we can be assured that He is completing a good work in us. He can do more than we can ever imagine if we step out in faith and trust His timing in our lives. Shaping does take time for us to be completely well-formed.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.
Clay needs to be pressured
If the clay is to be shaped into a vessel, there will be pressure from the potter’s hand. There will be pushing down into the centre to create a cavity, and if clay had any sensation, it would undoubtedly feel intense pain. Similarly, as God is shaping us, there will be intense pressure, a heart-wrenching experience that hits the utmost deepest recesses of our being, the secret place that nobody except God can reach into. It hurts, but it’s a necessary process in becoming a vessel for him.
Clay needs to undergo stretching
The potter’s hands work on stretching the clay horizontally, vertically and in various directions that form the vessel’s shape preconceived in the potter’s mind. God will stretch you in ways you may not foresee. He may call you to do something different, something out of your comfort zone, something you are unfamiliar with. It’s a reflex response to say, “God, I can’t do it”, and come out with multiple questions and reasons. When God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses had a barrage of doubts when God spoke to him at the burning bush.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
“What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
“Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
God provided Moses with the answers and capabilities to handle the seemingly enormous task at hand. Quite often, God does not only call the equipped; he also equips the called. To grow as a Christian, there will be stretching required, quite often in ways that we never imagined for ourselves. We can trust God in simple faith because He knows His plan for us. Even though the stretching is uncomfortable and maybe painful at certain points, it’s necessary to become what He calls you to become in Him.
Clay needs to be shaped to full potential
While clay is being stretched, it becomes larger and taller as the potter puts his hands both inside and outside of the clay. If the clay could talk and has decided “that’s enough!” midway through the shaping, it wouldn’t be able to reach its full potential. Who’s willing to pay for an unfinished piece of pottery? Unlikely anyone would.
Too many of us may decide that the Lord has stretched us enough and think it’s about time to call it quits. However, He is not finished with you yet, and sanctification continues until we see Him in glory.
Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Clay needs to yield to the Potter’s design
Ever gone to a hairdresser, having fanciful ideas on what the hairdresser can do to make us look like that beautiful model with superb glossy hair? Ever ended up disappointed because it didn’t turn out the way we imagined it to be? Maybe our hair was too thin and stringy to make the layered hairstyle look good, or our face shape was not flattered by the hairstyle we conjured up in our minds after pouring copiously over photos of different hairstyles.
If the clay could talk back, it may very well try to tell the potter that it wants to be a beautiful decorative piece with fancy curves and embellishments. It could instruct the potter to shape it this way and that. However, before the potter starts a piece, there is already a plan for which a particular clay will be shaped into. God had us designed even before the beginning of time before we were born. Psalm 139 reflects on this:
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
God has created us to be diverse and unique individuals. He has His perfect plan for each one of us, and we can trust Him to do good work in us and carry it to completion.
2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
Clay needs the Potter’s eyes and attention on it
Once the clay is on the wheel, the potter’s eyes and attention are entirely on it. If the potter’s eyes are taken off the piece, mistakes can happen and untoward results. We can be glad that God’s eyes are always on us. He will never forsake or leave us.
Job 34:21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
Clay needs to be broken if there are imperfections
The potter may break a seemingly good pottery piece harbouring a small crack, and it appears to be a shocking waste to the uninitiated. Why on earth would it need breaking? The pottery will be put in the kiln for firing to produce a tougher finish. Now, if there were to be a small crack and the potter fires it, the vessel won’t be of use because it will crack during the intense heat. In the Bible, some of you’ve read about the Potter’s field, purchased by the blood money that Judas obtained to betray Jesus. Now, the potter’s field is where cracked vessels are thrown out because there is no use for them anymore. Once it has been fired in the kiln, the cracked pottery can’t be remoulded anymore. So a seemingly cruel act of breaking the pottery before it’s been fired in the kiln is actually an act of mercy. It’s because it can still be remodelled before irreversible condemnation takes place.
How are you shaping out to be?
If you think about it, clay has a pretty easy job as long as it is watered and yielded in the centre of the wheel. It’s the Master Potter’s hands that are doing the work. It’s the Master Potter’s design that is being carried out to shape each vessel accordingly for His purpose. His eyes are on you as He does it. He will never leave nor forsake you. If there is breaking required, so be it. There is potential for recovery and reshaping to occur. He knows best. The pain we feel through stretching and pressing will result in a far better product than we ever imagined.
As a potter’s signature at the bottom of the pot marks the workmanship of its creator, God’s signature is in all of us. He knows us by name, so intimately, even better than we know ourselves. Let the Potter work in you, trust Him and yield to His craftsmanship.
Ephesian 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
About Dr Ang Chin Sim
Dr Ang Chin Sim is a senior Consultant Ophthalmologist. She grew up reading Asian Beacon. She spent her undergraduate years in Australia and served in Overseas Christian Fellowship, Adelaide.
After completing her medical degree, she went on to specialise in Ophthalmology, obtaining FRCS (Edinburgh) and M. Med. Ophthalmology (NUS). She is privileged to witness God’s handiwork on a daily basis and dabbles in poetry, music, dance and writing.
