Just in case you were unaware, your life is not your own. You are now God's vessel, bought with a price; paid for with the precious, sinless blood of God's Lamb. Jeremiah tells us that we are now in the hands of One greater... even the divine Potter! "Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel" (Jer 18:3-6). We are currently on the potter's wheel of God.
What is He making? Perhaps a pretty vase for all the flowers of heaven's fields? No. Or perhaps a fancy clay menorah for all of His Chanukah celebrations? Wrong again.
He is building a temple in the Spirit (Eph 2:19-22). A glorious temple at that!
In this temple, the Bible tells us, there are "vessels of gold and of silver" AS WELL AS vessels "of wood and of earth" (2 Tim 2:20). Which would you like to be in the ages to come? It's your choice! Some will shine brightly, while others dim (1 Cor 15:41-42).
The vessel that God forms depends upon the RESPONSE of the clay. Did you realize that?
In Jesus' day, there were countless "followers" or "onlookers" who were completely unresponsive. Matthew says, "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, AND YE HAVE NOT DANCED; we have mourned unto you, AND YE HAVE NOT LAMENTED" (Matt 11:16-17). Well, why didn't they dance? Were they crippled? No. Why didn't they lament? Were they emotionless? No. They were simply unresponsive to the pleadings and wooing of their Messiah, and this for a vast array of reasons: "I have bought a piece a ground... I have bought five yoke of oxen... I have married a wife" (see Lk 14:16-20). He may have been their Messiah, but he was not "my beloved" to them.
You see, we all have an individual responsibility to respond to the what God is doing in the earth. We can either be a people who comfortably stand afar off like Queen Vashti (Est 1:10-12), refusing to come at the King's command. Or we can be a people who choose to go near unto Him, despite the temporal pain and tribulation that may follow: "Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, AND GET THEE DOWN TO THE [THRESHING] FLOOR..." (Ruth 3:3). Are you willing to go down to the threshing floor? Do you want your will to be crushed and devastated, that He might live through you (see Jn 3:30)? Many are called, yet few choose. Allow His wooing to birth such a response in you today!
The shulamite woman is such a wonderful example of this in Scripture. She begins her journey as one of REFUSAL! Upon the Lord's desire for her, she says, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, TURN, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether" (Song 2:17). "Bether" means, "separation". She was not willing to follow Him wherever He went; she wanted off of the potter's wheel. What an odd paradox that is here presented! How can someone say "turn, my beloved"? If He truly was your BELOVED, you would not find it in yourself to say TURN! Similarly how Peter says "not so, Lord" in Acts 10:14. If He really is your Lord, you cannot find the will to say "not so".
It wasn't until the Lord graciously woos her to Himself in a greater capacity that she finally decides to surrender her own will. He even marred her a little in His merciful hands. Surprised? Don't be. The fruit of such a wooing and marring is splendid: She finally says, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I WILL GET ME to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense" (Song 4:6). And again, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits" (Song 4:16). God's wooing had done its job; it had served its purpose: to draw her away unto Himself; to make her a lover, a partner, one who would go anywhere and do anything. She willfully embraced the mountain of myrrh (symbolic of the death of her flesh - myrrh is a burial spice), and the hill of frankincense (symbolic of her communion with Him - Rev 5:9). Her main desire now was to allow the "spices" in her life to "flow out" as an offering. She no longer wanted separation! What a dramatic and yet glorious contrast! He truly was now, to her, "my beloved". She got back on the potter's wheel, and was surely fashioned into something glorious!
The wedding song is playing.. Will you partake today?
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