Daily Devotional • Februrary 19
A Reading from Isaiah 63:15-64:9
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
Your great pity and your compassion are withheld from me.
16 For you are our father,
though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our father;
our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17 Why, O Lord, do you let us stray from your ways
and let our heart harden, so that we do not fear you?
Turn back for the sake of your servants,
the tribes that are your heritage.
18 Your holy people took possession for a little while,
but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
19 We have long been like those whom you do not rule,
like those not called by your name.
1 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence —
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil —
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name
or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
Meditation
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
It is a rich image to envision ourselves as clay in the hands of God, our potter. It reminds me that “the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). Paul also uses the image: “We have this treasure [of the light of Jesus Christ] in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us” (2 Cor. 4:7). Even the word “human” is derived from the Latin humus meaning earth or ground.
As earthen vessels crafted and designed by God, we are used to hold both things ordinary and extraordinary. Although beautiful, pottery is also fragile. Its use and the regular wear and tear of life sometimes results in chips, cracks, or even shattering. What does the potter do when we are broken?
The Japanese have a method of repairing broken pottery known as kintsugi. They mend areas of breakage with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Its repair makes it even more beautiful and valuable. I think that is what God does with our wounds and the breakage of our lives. God uses the beauty of our repair for the healing of the world.
Michael G. Smith served as bishop of North Dakota for 15 years and is currently assists in the dioceses of Dallas and Albany. He is a Benedictine Oblate and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Ten wonderful grandchildren call him “Papa Mike.”
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of Albany
The Diocese of Machakos – The Anglican Church of Kenya
