Formed: Embracing God's Shaping Hand in 2025

As we step into a new year, it's natural to reflect on where we've been and where we're headed. But what if, instead of focusing solely on our own plans and resolutions, we shifted our perspective to see ourselves as clay in the hands of a master potter? This powerful imagery, drawn from Isaiah 64:8, invites us to reconsider our relationship with God and our approach to the future:

"And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand."

This verse, nestled within a prayer of the Israelites during a time of exile and crisis, speaks volumes about hope, trust, and the intimate relationship we can have with our Creator. Despite their circumstances being far from ideal, the Israelites chose to show up with hope, believing that their God was bigger than their failures and current situation.

As we face our own uncertainties and challenges in 2025, we're presented with a choice: Will we blame our circumstances for our shortcomings, or will we show up with hope, trusting that God is greater than any obstacle we face? Will we take ownership of our lives, believing that our future is worth fighting for?

The key to this hope lies in recognizing God not just as an distant deity, but as our Father. There's a profound difference between believing in God as a concept and experiencing Him as a loving, present Father. This shift in perspective unlocks a depth of hope, love, and faith that can transform our lives.

Consider the story of a man struggling to carry a heavy bookshelf, only to be humbled by a child's innocent proclamation: "My dad is so much stronger than you!" This simple moment reveals a beautiful truth - there's a life awaiting us if we trust our heavenly Father's strength with the same confidence as a child trusts their earthly father.

As we embrace this Father-child relationship with God, we're invited to make three important confessions:

1. We are the clay: dependent and pliable
Acknowledging our dependence on God is countercultural in our age of self-help and individualism. Yet, it's in this humble posture that we find true strength. As Smith Wigglesworth wisely said, "You must come to see how wonderful you are in God and how helpless you are in yourself." What might be possible if we truly stopped going to ourselves and started going to God?

2. God is the potter: intentional and loving
When we see ourselves as clay, we recognize God as the intentional, loving potter shaping our lives. Even when we see only a misshapen blob of untapped potential, God sees a masterpiece in the making. He forms us through various methods:

a) Trimming: Like a gardener pruning branches to promote growth, God sometimes cuts away things in our lives to make room for new purpose and growth.

b) Pressure: Just as a potter uses pressure to shape clay, God often uses pressure to shape us. Throughout scripture, we see how pressure was a constant companion to those God used mightily.

c) Starting over: Sometimes, God needs to break us down completely before rebuilding us. This process, while painful, can lead to beautiful new beginnings.

3. We are being formed with purpose
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Our lives are not random or purposeless - we are being intentionally shaped for a divine purpose.

This truth is beautifully illustrated in the story of Jim, a pastor who experienced miraculous healing from paralysis. Understanding life as a precious gift, Jim continued to serve others even as his health declined, writing devotionals from his home with an oxygen tank by his side. His example reminds us that every moment of life has purpose and value.

As we navigate 2025, how can we practically place ourselves in the Potter's hands? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Embrace spiritual disciplines: Regular prayer, worship, and scripture reading position us to be shaped by God.

2. Welcome pressure: Instead of resisting difficult circumstances, ask God how He might be using them to form you.

3. Practice surrender: Daily acknowledge your dependence on God and invite Him to mold you.

4. Seek community: Surround yourself with others who are also seeking to be formed by God.

5. Cultivate gratitude: Regularly thank God for the gift of life and the purpose He's given you.

Remember, the process of being formed is ongoing. There will be moments of trimming that feel uncomfortable, pressures that seem overwhelming, and times when it feels like God is starting over completely in your life. But through it all, hold fast to the truth that you are clay in the hands of a loving, intentional Potter.

As we step into this new year, let's do so with the humble confidence of clay that knows it's in good hands. May we embrace the forming process, trusting that even when we can't see the final product, our Potter has a beautiful design in mind.

In the words of Jeremiah 18:6, "O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand." Let this be our anthem for 2025 - a year of surrendering to the Potter's hand, being formed with purpose, and emerging as the masterpieces we were created to be.

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1. Isaiah 64:8 - "But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."
2. Jeremiah 18:1-6 - The story of the potter's house, where God uses the potter's work as a metaphor for His relationship with Israel.
3. Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
4. Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
5. John 15:1-2 - "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."
6. James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
7. Lamentations 3:22-23 - "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."
8. Romans 8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
9. Philippians 1:6 - "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
10. Psalm 139:13-14 - "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."