But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you ate our potter; we are all the work of your hand. ISAIAH 64:8, ESV
I love summer. The kids are out of school, and almost every weekend we go to the beach. Now wait a moment; you know that I live in Michigan, which is almost a thousand miles from the ocean! How could I go to the beach every weekend? I live about ten minutes from Lake Michigan, which has some of the nicest beaches in the United States, with miles of wide, powdery sand beaches, tall dunes, and wonderful lighthouses. I’ve had friends tell me those aren’t beaches, but I looked in the encyclopedia, and I confirmed that a beach is the sandy edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake.
There’s one particular beach we go to almost every weekend called Warren Dunes State Park. We bring our chairs, umbrellas, a canopy, and munchies to the beach. Right behind the beach there is an enormous 240-foor-tall dune that is super fun to climb and run back down. Just up the beach there is a stream that runs through the middle of the park and empties into Lake Michigan. The stream winds its way inland through a shallow ravine until you reach what is locally called “the clay pits” –layers of light gray clay in the walls of ravine. People love to come to this spot and grab a handful of clay to make funny shapes with it or smear it all over their face and body, then wash it off at the beach.
My favorite clay mentioned in the Bible is found in our verse for today. It says that we are each wonderful works of God by saying we are the clay and God is the potter who has carefully molded us. Next time you create something out of clay or putty or even Lego blocks, think of God who created you and loves you.