The potter and the clay
Day 341, Friday, July 18
Isaiah Chapters 62-64
“Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the potter; I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.”
The words to the familiar hymn reflect an image we find in today’s reading. After a recitation of the way that we as God’s people have rebelled and left God’s will, in chapter 64, verses 8 and 9 we read, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. O, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.”

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Friday meditation

Job 7:11-21
“Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.
“What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention, that you examine them every morning and test them every moment?
Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do?
Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”

Prayer focus
Shape us, God, into vessels you can use for your glory.