Isaiah 64:8 “But now oh Lord, you are our father. We are the clay and you are our potter. We are all the work of your hand.”
– Isaiah 64:8
This is a humbling verse. My life is the work of God’s hand. Your life is the work of God’s hand. Just like clay in the hand of a potter, He molds and makes, even breaks when necessary, refines, and shapes.
God uses all things in our lives to mold us, make us, and shape us. And we can trust Him because He’s a good Father.
This Verse Reminds Us That Everything is in Accordance With God’s Plan
Whatever is going on in our lives, I think about just the details of what are going on in my life right now, I encourage you to think about all the things that are going on in your life right now, just know that none of those things are random, that God is working in and through all of those things, even the worst things, or things we don’t understand why this is happening, that God is using even those things to mold us, to make us, to shape us.
And so the posture of clay before the potter is
God make me, mold me, shape me however you want. And the beauty is, we can pray that because of what Isaiah 64:8 says at the very beginning, “But now oh, Lord, you are our father.” He’s our father, He’s a good father, He’s a perfect father, the perfect father. So we can trust Him. So if we were clay in the hands of a potter that was not trustworthy, that was not good, that was not loving, that was not merciful, that would be a really bad thing.
But the good news of Isaiah 64:8 is that we are clay in the hands of a good potter, a gracious potter, a merciful potter. A father who loves us as His children and cares for us and shapes us according to his care for us so we pray.
Isaiah 64:8 Prayer: We Are in The Potter’s Hands
Oh God, we are in your hands. Our lives are the work of your hand, my life, everyone of our lives, as we’re praying, we are the work of your hands, so shape us, mold us, make us however you will God. We confess it’s not always easy, we confess to you, shape us and mold us and make us in ways that we might not always choose, in ways that we don’t always understand.
But God, even amidst the pain of being pressed in this way, or even broken in that way, we look up to you and we say we trust in you, you are our father, You are our Dad. You love us, you care for us, and we are just so awed to be your children and so we gladly place our lives in your hands. And we pray do in us, with us, whatever you will. Lead us however you will, we yield to you, we confess you as our Lord.
We yield to you, we just pray. God as clay you our potter, use us for noble purposes. Use us for the accomplishment of your will and the glory of your name. God help us not to waste our lives rebelling against your hand at work in our lives. Help us to trust and follow you and in the process use us as a demonstration of your grace, your handiwork, for you glory. We pray, in Jesus name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
