God is an Artist. Just look around and notice that things are not purely functional in nature, they are also beautiful.

If you were involved in a project that was entirely yours – it could be anything from building a house, creating a garden, to cooking a dish, or painting a picture – have you ever noticed that for a while nothing seemed more important to you than to finish the project – especially when roadblocks were involved? Picture yourself in the middle of a project important to you; wouldn’t you be at least a bit curious how the project was going to turn out? Would you be anxious to see the results? Would you find yourself thinking about your project at night even when you were supposed to be asleep?

Yep, that’s what artists do. They hover over their work like hummingbirds over their nectar-promising flowers. And this is what God does – He is hovering over you, because you are His work in progress that He is anxious to finish. And He is dead-serious about it too. It’s on His mind day and night. There is no way He leaves anything unfinished. In human terms you could say that God is obsessed with His work – but unlike us human workaholics God is obsessed with the good work within us. He is passionate about bringing us to completion.

So, where does this leave us?

It leaves us dead-center in the Potter’s hands, God’s hands who simultaneously hold us, comfort us, and work on us. Here is an excerpt of the book of Jeremiah describing the work of the Potter’s hands (Jeremiah 18:1-6):

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.”

Maybe we don’t like to be the clay. Maybe we don’t like to be worked on either. However, it seems reassuring to me that the Potter is never trashing the clay that didn’t turn out. He just starts over, comes up with an ingenious idea, and ends up creating something entirely different – in the spur of a moment! God’s way of dealing with the sons and daughters of Adam – Adam incidentally meaning dust of the earth – is simply fascinating. God is not only artistic with a highly individualistic approach for each of His pieces of art – which is us – He also seems to have plenty of patience by not throwing the towel when some of His artwork comes out all wrong.

Putting ourselves into God’s hands is the wisest thing we can do for ourselves. After completing His creation God rested and admired His handiwork calling it very good. Read up on the creation story at the beginning of the book of Genesis, and you’ll get the gist of it. It is fairly obvious that God loves what He creates. And this is the kind of passion God has for you and for me.