Life as God Intends

There God put the man whom he had formed. (Genesis 2:8)

Genesis 2:7-8; Isaiah 45:9; Jeremaiah 18:1-7

What Is God Saying?

God formed a man. The verb used in verses 7 and 8 is the same as that which describes what a potter does to clay when they shape it into a vessel. The idea of a vase or a pitcher begins in the mind of the artist. They know what they want before they put their hand to the job. They know its purpose. They know the kind of material they need. They bring it all together. When all is ready—the raw clay, the spinning wheel, and water to keep the clay workable—the idea that started in their mind takes shape beneath their fingers. So humankind was formed, an idea of God, an idea of something, someone, who would be perfect, took shape as vessels on the potter's wheel.

The man and woman were given the breath of life and became the greatest of God's creation, its crowning glory—God's perfect idea, God's perfect work—and were perfectly placed. Then came Satan, subtle, deceitful, persuasive; the temptation, the disobedience, the sin. And that which God formed had now become deformed. The beautiful became ugly. The perfect became flawed.

How Does This Apply To Us?

We are all touched by the consequences of sin. We all long for another chance. Across our minds flash visions of what might have been. Can it still be? Is there a plan for that? Yes, God, who formed humans perfectly, can take the broken vessel and re-form it. "If anyone be in Christ, they are a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17). The God of creation is also the God of re-creation. Could it be said more clearly than in Jeremiah 18:3 and 4? "So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do."

Let our prayer today concern itself with what God can do with the vessel of our life. Broken, perhaps, but reworked in his hand, a vessel to be used by his hand for his glory and our joy. Not perfect yet, but in Christ, on the right road.

Pray With Me

O God of all creation, God of the perfect plan, you formed a perfect man and woman and put them in a perfect place. Through pride and rebellion, they chose their plan over your plan and preferred the sense of short-lived liberty to the bliss of steadfast obedience. Now, across the wreckage of a world that might have been, I reach out for life as you planned it. Out of the shambles of my willfulness, I want to retrace my life on the pattern of your perfect design. Yet, like a thick cloud, my transgressions obscure my vision. I cannot look on that perfection which you have intended. The paralysis of sin keeps me from moving toward that perfection you have purposed.

Lord of the perfect creation, be to me the God of re-creation. Though not able to take a single step, lift me all the way up and bring me back to life as you first intended it. Bring me into the calm of your sheltering love. “Lead me in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 23). Let me rejoice again in your companionship. Through the recreating power of Jesus Christ, may I become the person of your first and only plan. Then keep me, Lord, in this sin-blighted world as one that you have formed again!

For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Moving On in the Life of Prayer

The God who formed us once and placed us here is still working on us. We keep frustrating his perfect plan by our disobedience and pride. Yet through faithfulness in prayer, we will discover what he wants to do in us and what he can do through us. Pray without ceasing.