You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand (Isaiah 64:8, NKJV).
The principle that suffering leads to glory is illustrated in Scripture by a vivid description of clay on the Potter’s wheel—clay that was once cracked, shattered, and broken, clay that was totally useless and ugly.
The Potter took the clay and broke it down even further, grinding it into dust then moistening it with water before He put it on His wheel and began to remake it into a vessel pleasing to Himself. The cracks and chips and broken pieces disappeared as the clay became soft and pliable to the Potter’s touch.
But the clay was still soft and weak, the color dull and drab. So the Potter placed the vessel into the fiery kiln, carefully keeping His eye on it as He submitted it to the raging heat.
At a time He alone determined was sufficient, the Potter withdrew the pot from the furnace. The blazing heat had radically transformed into a vessel of strength and glorious, multicolored beauty.
You and I are just little clay pots destined for glory!
Why?