Last week we looked at softening the clay and how that sometimes means being in times of intense pressure. While this is no fun, the rewarding part of the process is when you realize that you’re not alone in the rough times. I’ve admitted through this series that I know very little about pottery. I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. And to be totally truthful, I thought last week was going to be the final installment of this series. Then a friend sent me a text reminding me of the final phase of making a lump into a useful treasure.

The text came through just like this You know what happens after this part, right? The intense heat of the kiln!

I have to say this didn’t make me happy! I could feel my shoulders begin to rise and become tense. My back started to knot up. I could feel the pressure forming behind my eyes. And honestly I just sat down and felt like giving up for a second. Then I remembered something I had learned many years ago. I remembered something about fire and refining.

Now I know the firing process for clay is to harden it, to keep it in its most useful form. But there’s another kind of intense fire that came to my mind. The bible talks about a refining fire and refers to silver as refined in a fire. One of my professors in seminary taught about this in a way that never left me. I just closed my eyes and there he was standing in the classroom. He was teaching about what it meant to be refined by fire. He told us how silver was refined.

You see silver isn’t just thrown into a fire and left to fend for itself. As a matter of fact, the silver is never left unattended. The process of refining silver is very delicate. It’s been said that a refiner only knows when the silver has reached its purest form when he can see can see himself in it. Let that sink in for a second. The refiner doesn’t let his precious work of art just bake in a kiln like normal pottery. He can’t just set it and forget it.

Rather, he stands with eyes intently fixed on his handcrafted work of art until it reflects his image. Malachi 3:3 reminds us that God sits as a refiner and purifier of silver as he refines his people. This means that when you and I are in the midst of a fiery ordeal, when the heat is being turned up on us by the world, we can be certain that we’re not alone. As a matter of fact, God is right there looking intently in our faces. He’s waiting until our image starts to bear his own image.

I know it’s easy to pound our fist at the air and blame God for leaving us alone or for allowing bad things to happen. But there are a couple of things that are important to note. He’s right there, just an arm’s length away. He’ll snatch us out the instant we are ready. Not when we’re ready to give up but when we’re really ready to bear his image. This means we have to lose something of ourselves first. It means that our thoughts, desires, pains, and even limitations on ourselves need to go away. It means we have to remember whose hands formed us. It means we must be always mindful that God kneaded us into this image and form. And it means that we too will one day bear fully the image of God, the Potter. And when this image is perfected in us we’ll be able to see God in His Kingdom face to face. I hope this makes the kneading, spinning, pressing, and fire a bit more bearable.

Hang in there. Wherever you are. We are all lumps of clay being shaped into the image of our creator. Every step of this process is completely worth it because one day you’ll be able to see the treasure he was forming in you.