Dan Czaplewski posted on September 24, 2009 10:47
We are in the middle of our fall spiritual growth campaign, Prayer: Connecting with Our Father. The Lord’s Prayer is providing the outline for our sermons over six weeks as well as the companion Bible study.
One metaphor that is used throughout this study is that of clay in the hands of a potter. The Bible uses this image in several places (Isaiah 29 & Jeremiah 18). God is described as the Potter who shapes us like clay on a wheel.
My oldest son, Seth, is an art major at the University of Central Florida. He has been concentrating on the area of ceramics for the last year of so. Needless to say, I have several mugs and an espresso pitcher that bear Seth’s finger prints. I am reminded of him throughout the day as I drink coffee or see a mug on my desk.
A long time ago I tried my hand at pottery. I never achieved the level of artistic ability that my son has, but I did learn the basics and was able to craft a few interesting pieces. The most important part of throwing a pot is how you start. The lump of clay must begin at the center of the wheel. If you don’t get the clay completely centered, nothing you do after that will work right. A potter who starts to craft his clay without it being centered will end up having to start over pretty quickly.
It takes some real patience and a good bit of strength to get the lump of clay into the center of the wheel. You get your hands good and wet and press down and in as the clay moves to the center.
Some of you are old enough to remember the old Allstate Insurance commercials. Their tag line was, “you’re in good hands with Allstate.” We in Florida aren’t so sure about the truth of that statement any more, but we know that, with God as our Potter, we are in good hands. He is constantly moving us to the center.
Getting centered, I believe, is the best thing that happens when we pray, particularly when we pray those words from the Lord’s Prayer, “hallowed be thy name.” The Bible scholar, William Barclay said, “This is no prayer for the man or woman who want and desires to stay the way they are.” God’s name is made holy in us as He moves us “to the center.” As we pray, we not only ask for God’s hand to be upon our lives, we open our hearts to His shaping of us.
One indispensible aid to our prayers is God’s word, the Bible. It is in the Bible that we see that the character of God (His “name”) is holy. We also have the promise that the Holy Spirit works through God’s word to shape us and keep us centered on Christ. In my own life, the Psalms have been the best resource for my prayer time. I see in those ancient poems the greatness and goodness of God as well as the traits that I pray He will form in me. I challenge you to pick a favorite Psalm and use it as your prayer; I believe in those words of Scripture you will experience the hand of God making His name holy in your life.