Jeremiah 18:3-6
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.

God doesn’t waste anything.  He doesn’t throw out the clay, but He keeps working on it.  He didn’t ever cast off Israel completely and start over with a new nation after they forsook Him.  He didn’t destroy His whole creation when Adam and Eve sinned and his children filled the Earth with wickedness.  He doesn’t give up on us when we mess up.  He doesn’t write anyone off no matter what they have done.  He just keeps working and working, shaping and reshaping through those turns around the potter’s wheel.

God is in control.  He is molding and shaping and building.  He is repairing and fixing and changing us in the process, and we have to submit to that.  He is going to keep working—in Israel, in this world, and in us—until we become exactly what He wants us to be.  And only at the very end will He cast aside those things that are not what He intended them to be.

So are we willing to let ourselves and our lives be shaped by the Potter’s hands?  Those were the hands that first formed a man out of clay and fashioned him in God’s own image.  Those were the hands that reached out toward His people over and over to supply, to help, to encourage, and to hold.  Those were the hands that stretched wide on a cross and secured our salvation.  Those are the hands that take us as we are and make us into a vessel fit for the Master’s use.

When it comes right down to it, God is sovereign, and we have no right to tell God what to do with our lives.  Not only does He have the wisdom and ability to shape and mold us, not only does He know exactly how much pressure to apply and where to get the desired form, but then He has a plan in mind for how He will use us.  God used Israel in an important way despite their rebellion.  God uses people, even though we are marred by sin.  But it is a process that takes time, so may we not be resistant, but submissive, to the work God is doing in us.