| Jeremiah 18:4 – “He used his hands to shape the pot the way he wanted it to be.” |
Disappointment – a bitter term, a souring of expectations.
But it can also be disheartening, even crushing at times.
Adelaide Pollard was no stranger to disappointment. Her heart’s desire was to embark on a mission in Africa, yet no matter how hard she tried, the funds simply didn’t materialize.
In her despair, she recalled the story of Jeremiah.
“I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. But the vessel he was shaping from the clay was flawed in his hands; so the potter formed it into another vessel, as it seemed best to him.” (Jeremiah 18:3–4)
There was something profound in those words that caught her attention. The potter shaped the clay vessel “as it seemed best to him.”
What was she to make of her disappointment? What was her next move?
One evening, she attended a prayer meeting. An elderly woman in the gathering fervently prayed, “Lord, it matters not what you do with us, just have your way in our lives.”
These two instances, one ancient and the other recent, lingered in Pollard’s mind. It took time, but she gradually transformed her disappointment into something greater – faith in an unseen plan.
Taking a sheaf of paper, she began to pen her own prayer, a prescription for dealing with disappointment.
She wrote:
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.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Search me and try me, Master, today! Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, as in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Wounded and weary, help me, I pray! Power, all power, surely is Thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Hold o’er my being absolute sway! Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me!
Perhaps we need to return to the potter’s shop as he turns the clay on the wheel. Watch him shape our lives. But we also must be shapable.
Today, look at what happens in your life and say, “Have your own way.”
Robert G. Taylor
robertgtaylor.com
