From yesterday's blog. "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump
one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" Romans 9:21
Yesterday I wrote a bit about God and the clay that He molds. I talked about how that can be a painful thing for the clay, and how I have seen that at work in my life quite frequently. But I also included the above verse from Romans 9, about how the potter makes some clay into honorable use vessels, and others into vessels for dishonorable use. So let's talk about that a little today.
What would be a vessel for dishonorable use? Well, think about some of the ceramic fixtures in your house that you don't exactly show off a lot. Maybe the first one to jump to mind is found in your bathroom. Let's face it, going to the bathroom is not exactly something that springs to mind when we think about honorable use. We treat it with more modesty, hiding it behind closed doors, precisely for that reason: it isn't the most honorable thing in our house.
So, if God molds the clay, and some of it is for honorable use, and others for dishonorable use, then what would be those vessels of dishonorable use? Or, to put it in a slightly different way, what would be the equivalent of the toilet when God fashions people? A necessary part of life in this world, but not exactly one that we are proud to admit that we need to use, or that we even really want to admit to having to use. So what would be the people equivalent of that?
Well, God does actually paint a few pictures of that for us. Think about Pharoah at the time of the Exodus. God actually speaks that He put Pharoah in charge so that He could demonstrate His power in freeing His people. Pharoah would seem to be a vessel for dishonorable use. Or, at the time of the exile, when God would utilize the Babylonian army to destroy the temple, Jerusalem, and Judah, eventually to bring about their downfall because they overshot what God had given them to do. It may seem that they were set up for a dishonorable purpose, to be God's sword against His people, only to be discarded for what they had done.
The point I basically make is really the same as yesterday. If God decides to do that, what can we really say against it? Can we say that He is wrong to do such things, especially as it serves the purpose of His will and design? Can we say He is wrong in that at all? After all, who are we to question the one who makes us, and who has His design for our role in the grand scheme of things?
Really, I think it boils down to this one thing. How comfortable are we with really saying, believing, and knowing that God is the one who gets to call the shots, and we really don't have much say in the matter? But don't we say that our lives are in His hands, and that He should do with us what He sees fit? What if He decided that you were to be a vessel of dishonorable use? Would you still be able to say, "Praise the Lord"? If not, what would be getting in the way of that? It's a thought well worth thinking about.
Yesterday I wrote a bit about God and the clay that He molds. I talked about how that can be a painful thing for the clay, and how I have seen that at work in my life quite frequently. But I also included the above verse from Romans 9, about how the potter makes some clay into honorable use vessels, and others into vessels for dishonorable use. So let's talk about that a little today.
What would be a vessel for dishonorable use? Well, think about some of the ceramic fixtures in your house that you don't exactly show off a lot. Maybe the first one to jump to mind is found in your bathroom. Let's face it, going to the bathroom is not exactly something that springs to mind when we think about honorable use. We treat it with more modesty, hiding it behind closed doors, precisely for that reason: it isn't the most honorable thing in our house.
So, if God molds the clay, and some of it is for honorable use, and others for dishonorable use, then what would be those vessels of dishonorable use? Or, to put it in a slightly different way, what would be the equivalent of the toilet when God fashions people? A necessary part of life in this world, but not exactly one that we are proud to admit that we need to use, or that we even really want to admit to having to use. So what would be the people equivalent of that?
Well, God does actually paint a few pictures of that for us. Think about Pharoah at the time of the Exodus. God actually speaks that He put Pharoah in charge so that He could demonstrate His power in freeing His people. Pharoah would seem to be a vessel for dishonorable use. Or, at the time of the exile, when God would utilize the Babylonian army to destroy the temple, Jerusalem, and Judah, eventually to bring about their downfall because they overshot what God had given them to do. It may seem that they were set up for a dishonorable purpose, to be God's sword against His people, only to be discarded for what they had done.
The point I basically make is really the same as yesterday. If God decides to do that, what can we really say against it? Can we say that He is wrong to do such things, especially as it serves the purpose of His will and design? Can we say He is wrong in that at all? After all, who are we to question the one who makes us, and who has His design for our role in the grand scheme of things?
Really, I think it boils down to this one thing. How comfortable are we with really saying, believing, and knowing that God is the one who gets to call the shots, and we really don't have much say in the matter? But don't we say that our lives are in His hands, and that He should do with us what He sees fit? What if He decided that you were to be a vessel of dishonorable use? Would you still be able to say, "Praise the Lord"? If not, what would be getting in the way of that? It's a thought well worth thinking about.
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