Make Me the Man — E.A. Johnston

The Potter’s Wheel and God’s Craftsmanship

Years ago, while on my honeymoon to Hot Springs, Arkansas, my wife and I visited a pottery barn where we watched a craftsman work on a potter's wheel as he molded and shaped wet clay into an object we had picked out in the front shop.

Jeremiah 18 and the Potter’s Sovereign Work

I chose a manly coffee mug, and he shaped that clay into that coffee mug and then heated it in an oven. For many years after, I enjoyed my morning coffee out of that mug made on the potter's wheel. In Jeremiah 18 we read, The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

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.

Surrendering to God’s Refining Process

I wrote a little poem, friends, called Make Me the Man, and it goes like this. Lord, you love me and gave yourself for me. Make me the man you want me to be. I'm not the man you need me to be. I'm stained by sin and cracked again.

Being Remade According to God’s Pattern

Lord, make me the man you want me to be. Lord, you love me and gave yourself for me. Make me the man you want me to be. Take this marred clay back into thy hands, and as it seems good to thee, make me again to the pattern you have planned.