Oct
1
Written by:
Bob Flynn
10/1/2009 7:37 AM
But when men shall call a solid answer to their groundless conceits about the meaning of the Scriptures, a replying against God, it savours more of the spirit who was seen falling like lightning from heaven, than of His, who saw him in this his fall. (John Goodwin)
Now the heart of the story as we go through the whole of the Scriptures is this, that we are in the midst of a rebel province. The prince of this world is the devil, and he is the god of this age. We are in the midst of the rebel province, and we are God’s underground movement in this world. (Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, Th.D.)
On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? (Romans 9:20 NASB)
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Romans 9:20 KJV)
But who indeed are you — a mere human being — to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, "Why have you made me like this?" (Romans 9:20 NET.)
No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the One who created it, "Why have you made me like this?" (Romans 9:20 NLT)
And yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the potter. We all are formed by Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8 NLT)
An elderly woman at a prayer meeting one night pleaded, “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us, Lord, just have your way with our lives.” At this meeting was Adelaide Pollard, a rather well-known itinerant Bible teacher who was deeply discouraged because she had been unable to raise the necessary funds for a desired trip to Africa to do missionary service. She was moved by the older woman’s sincere and dedicated request of God.
At home that evening Miss Pollard meditated on Jeremiah 18:3, 4:
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.
Before retiring that evening, Adelaide Pollard completed the writing of all four stanzas of this hymn as it is sung today. The hymn first appeared in published form in 1907.
Often into our lives come discouragements and heartaches that we cannot understand. As children of God, however, we must learn never to question the ways of our sovereign God—but simply to say:
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Search me and try me, Master, today! Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, as in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Wounded and weary, help me, I pray! Power, all power, surely is Thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Hold o’er my being absolute sway! Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me!
Osbeck, K. W. (1990). Amazing grace : 366 inspiring hymn stories for daily devotions. Includes indexes. (246). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications.
Is our trust in God based only upon the circumstances? Or do we shudder and shake like the leaves and limbs of a tree caught in a mighty wind? If our minds were qualified to question the Creator we wouldn't need a Savior! We often forget that the inheritance of our present estate is death due to sin! How then can the flesh (in which there lies no good thing) hope to comprehend the ways of the Lord? Only life in the Spirit can give hope to the illumination that comes from the Most High! Trust grows when our knowing is assured (ginosko - to know with certainty - Rom 6:6, eido - to know with the senses - Rom 6:9). How then will we trust Him if we first do not know Him? How will we know Him if we spend no time with Him? Are we now to say to the Potter, whom we say we know but do not, "Why have you made me like this?" Or will we say, like the grand saint, "Lord, just have your way with our lives." For we live in a world ruled by a fallen angel whose followers are fallen as well. Will we accept the course that has been set for us and serve the purposes of the Most High? Or will we keep our life and loose it? Are you prepared for the battle today? Are you trained up to share the hope that is within you? If your knees are like that of the Camel, take hope! If not, take heed!
Paul here strongly reproves the impiety and wickedness of arraigning God. This impiety appears,
(1) Because man is a creature of arraigning God. This impiety appears, Because man is a creature of God, and it is improper that he should arraign his Maker.
(2) he is unqualified to understand the subject. “Who art thou?” What qualifications has a creature of a day, a being just in the infancy of his existence; of so limited faculties; so perverse, blinded, and interested as man, to sit in judgment on the doings of the Infinite Mind? Who gave him the authority, or invested him with the prerogatives of a judge over his Maker’s doings?
(3) even if man were qualified to investigate those subjects, what right has he to reply against God, to arraign him, or to follow out a train of argument tending to involve his Creator in shame and disgrace? No where is there to be found a more cutting or humbling reply to the pride of man than this. And on no subject was it more needed. The experience of every age has shown that this has been a prominent topic of objection against the government of God; and that there has been no point in the Christian theology to which the human heart has been so ready to make objections as to the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. (Dr. Albert Barnes)
As if he had said: Weak, ignorant man, darest thou retort on the infinitely good and righteous God? Reflect on thyself; and tell me, after thou hast abused the grace of God, and transgressed his laws, wilt thou cavil at his dispensations? God hath made, created, formed the Jewish nation; and shall the thing formed, when it hath corrupted itself, pretend to correct the wise and gracious Author of its being, and say, Why hast thou made me thus? Why hast thou constituted me in this manner? Thou hast done me wrong in giving me my being under such and such conditions.
Old John Goodwin’s note on this passage is at least curious: “I scarce (says he) know any passage of the Scripture more frequently abused than this. When men, in the great questions of predestination and reprobation, bring forth any text of Scripture which they conceive makes for their notion, though the sense which they put upon it be ever so uncouth and dissonant from the true meaning of the Holy Ghost, yet, if any man contradict, they frequently fall upon him with - Nay but, O man; who art thou? As if St. Paul had left them his heirs and successors in the infallibility of his spirit! But when men shall call a solid answer to their groundless conceits about the meaning of the Scriptures, a replying against God, it savours more of the spirit who was seen falling like lightning from heaven, than of His, who saw him in this his fall.” (Dr. Adam Clarke)
Copyright ©2009 Robert Flynn