Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. (NIV)

Are you a rule-follower or a rebel? I sit squarely in the middle: I am a follower of good rules.

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It's a bit of a character flaw, perhaps, but I just struggle to care about rules that I think are dumb. Give me a rule that I deem wise, and you can count on me to follow it. Wearing a seat belt in a moving car? Sure, I agree! But, lighting a campfire even though there's a burn ban...I admit I might be the one telling you, it'll be fine! Letting my dog off leash at an empty trailhead - just do it!

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As much as I try inwardly to defend this made-up line between good rules and unnecessary ones, at the end of the day, there's really no rhyme or reason to my rationales. I know the truth: my rule aversion is less about whether a rule is good and more about wanting to do whatever I want.

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Perhaps it’s human nature to think we’re best suited to rule our own little worlds. But today’s passage reminds us that this kind of control is only an illusion. God is Creator. He alone makes the rules.

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In this passage, God is like the movie dad who says to his kid, I want to show you something, when they've got a lesson coming. He brings Jeremiah to a potter's workspace, and he sees a potter forming a pot on the wheel. If you've ever worked with a wheel, you know how suddenly a project can fall apart in your hands. Jeremiah sees this happen, the pot wrecked, but the clay is still quite usable. Naturally, the potter takes the clay, the medium in his hands to use as he sees fit and forms it into a new pot.

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Oh, how we wish WE were the potter at the wheel in this illustration. We would take our circumstances and form and shape them to our will. Something goes wrong, we pivot! It all falls apart, we rebuild! But God says to us, No, child. I'm the potter. You are the clay.

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“'Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?' declares the Lord." The part in me that believes I make my own destiny, my own rules, cries back, No! No, you can't! But in the humbler side of my heart, I know that certainly, he can. He alone is the Creator, not I.

And yet, being called clay is no insult. We might rebel against our Creator, but would clay ever call its potter cruel? No, it's just clay. The job of the potter is to fashion and form the clay into something beautiful, unique, remarkable. We wish we could form and control our circumstances, but God is far more interested in and delighted by forming us through them.

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In fact, in Ephesians 2:10, Paul calls us God's "handiwork." The Greek is poiema, the word we get poem from - a unique assembly of creativity, with design, intentionality, purpose, and, yes, even mystery - all masterfully woven together in a single song. In the hands of our Creator, this clay turning poiema is YOU.

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And today, as we embark on this series about God's good design for our lives, here is the foundational truth we must start with: God is Creator. We are the creation. We are made in his image, not he in ours. He makes the rules.

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He is the Potter. We are his clay. Formed and fashioned into masterpieces, not to build our own kingdoms, but for his glory and good purposes.

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What if you could find rest in just being his clay, rather than rebelling against it? When Bible teacher and author Lysa TerKeurst finds herself fighting against the Potter, she rehearses these three truths: 1) God is good. 2) God is good to me. 3) God is good at being God.

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Perhaps you need to rehearse these truths today, too. Surrender isn’t easy, but just as Jesus taught us through his life of sacrifice and submission to the Father, surrender isn’t losing – it's a reorienting. Today, let us reorient ourselves with open hands upward to the Potter. Acknowledge him as the one who holds all authority over your life, not just to tell you what to do, but to create you into something beautiful, something new.

Father God - my Creator and Designer - you are good. I know that you are good to me, even when I don't see it. And I agree that you alone are good at being God. I surrender my head-strong heart, my selfish motives, and my stubborn pride to you today. Form me as you see fit. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.