We think of God as a potter for many reasons. I have explored this idea more and more after writing four children’s books about vessels and their creator. As a result, these books are allegories that represent the relationship mankind has with God.

The main character in the first book is a vessel named Little Pot. In the book, Little Pot discovers why the potter made it. In this blog, Little Pot wishes to share the process of being made. The potter’s method to create a vessel will illustrate essential truths about how God makes a vessel ready to be used by Him.

God the Potter

It may be obvious, but it is important to note that God is the potter—the creator of all. The Bible has ninety-two different verses that reference potter or clay imagery. A list of some can be found here.

I recently read a thesis project by Karl Alan Stelzer, a potter and minister. He gives incredible insight into the imagery of God as a potter. You can also listen to a sermon he provides on this topic here.

Clay in the Potter’s Hands

A potter creates vessels, and God created us. Likewise, there is something more personable about how a potter forms the vessels. The potter uses his hands to form vessels. If you notice, when God created everything in the universe, He spoke it into existence. However, with mankind, he formed them from the dirt (or clay). Watching a potter create a vessel is different than watching other creators. A painter with a brush, a writer with a keyboard, a builder with bricks, or even a carpenter using a saw is not the same as a potter who puts both hands around a lump of clay.

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

You are the Potter, and I am the Clay

The following five steps illustrate why we think of God as a potter.

1. God, as a potter, wedges the clay

His hands work out unwanted air bubbles. He softens it into a pliable lump that is ready for the wheel. This is known as wedging. To successfully wedge a piece of clay, the potter throws it onto a hard surface, pushes, pulls, and smacks the clay. Also, a lump of clay holds the memory of its previous container. Wedging it will remove the memory of that form and prepare it to be centered on the wheel. When we allow the potter, God, to wedge us, He removes unwanted spaces. He helps us move past the form that we previously held. It may feel painful as He pushes and pulls at us, too.

2. God as a potter centers the clay

Once the potter feels the clay is ready, he places it on the wheel for centering. Centering brings the clay into balance. Centering the clay requires that the potter move and control the clay. A beginner potter allows the clay to move their hands. Likewise, we try to push God how we want to go. However, a master potter will spin and apply pressure to the side and top of the clay. Finally, the clay will rest and succumb to the potter’s hands. Only then is the clay balanced. We become in balance when we no longer try to go our way and rest in God’s hands.

3. Opening

The third reason is that the potter must open the clay. To open the clay, the potter finds the center and gently pushes it downward. This makes a slight indentation at the top center of the clay. The potter does not dig the clay out. Instead, he gently moves it while widening the opening. In this step, the lump of clay becomes a vessel, and the change begins. Once the opening is wide enough, the potter can take a sponge and clean the inside. He continues to check for balance as well. This step illustrates how we are to be completely open to God and willing for Him to control us.

4. Lifting Up

After opening the clay, the potter quickly begins lifting it upward. The potter’s hands guide the clay into a tall cylinder. The clay is fragile at this stage because the walls are very thin. The potter does not force the clay. He simply uses both hands to guide it, always moving it up. The potter gently puts one hand inside the vessel and the other on the outside. When the clay moves with the potter on the inside, the outside of the vessel takes care of itself.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:6

The Lord upholds all who fall

    and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Psalm 145:14

5. Shaping

Lastly, the potter will shape the clay into his planned form. During this step, the potter slows the wheel down and spins very specific details into the clay. In addition, the potter never takes his eyes off the vessel. Each stroke the potter does has a purpose in shaping the vessel. The clay must remain centered entirely and at the potter’s will. The slightest shift can mean the clay will collapse, making it necessary to start the process again. Jeremiah 18:4 describes that when the vessel becomes flawed, the potter forms it into a new vessel.

Once the potter had finished, he created a vessel for a specific purpose. In the three books: The Little Pot, The Tea Pot, and The Oil Lamp, the different vessels discover their unique purposes. We are each given a specific purpose, too. Our Potter, God, created us specifically to fulfill the plans He has for us. (Eph. 2:10)

God, as a potter, wants you to grow the fruit of the Spirit.

Little Pot also helps children (and adults) become fruit-bearing vessels! Therefore, I want you to have this FREE booklet. It will show you and your children how “the Potter” will grow the fruit of the Spirit through you. When you sign up, you are added to the email list. Consequently, you will receive a short, fruitful email of fun information and additional freebies each Friday. I hope you will join me. You can unsubscribe at any time.