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RISE, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. 4 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. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:2-6)
I do not usually write back-to-back devotions on the same subject, but this subject of the Potter’s wheel arose from a suggestion of a dear friend in Philadelphia (Mary Lou Flanagan, wife of the former Bishop James Flanagan of Philadelphia). She drew parallels from my devotion of the same subject last week and the hymn of which I write today, HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD. This hymn is the work of Miss Adelaide Potter who had been trying to raise money for a missionary trip to Africa – a burden which the Lord had laid on her shoulders at the age of forty. Bewildered at the lack of resources raised for the mission, she wondered why the Lord would give such a calling without providing the resources to fulfill it. She wrote the words to this hymn one night (in 1902) after being reminded at a prayer meeting that we must allow the Lord to have His way – not ours – in our planning. The tune is Adelaide, by George C. Stebbins
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
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,
Savior today!
Wash me just now, 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!
1 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. Even the casual observer will not that this hymn is also a prayer put to music. As the text of Jeremiah points out, we are merely lifeless clay without the Potter’s Touch. There are two leading points we must recognize:
1. We are nothing but formless clay;
2. The Potter decides our disposition, form and use. The clay has no sense of how it must be molded into a vessel for a great house. The clay must be malleable to the touch of the Potter. A lifeless lump we are for the Potter’s use. The lost soul must realize, by the beckoning impulse of the Holy Spirit, that he is no more than a lifeless lump of clay – worth little to himself or to others. But the Potter is able to mold him into precisely the kind of vessel most needful in service and merit.
2 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Search me and try me, Savior today! Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now, as in thy presence humbly I bow. The eye of the Lord penetrates the fleshy tissue of bone and membrane into the very seat of the soul – the heart. Nothing is kept secret from Him. We stand naked before Him lest we have that Robe of righteousness purchased by His only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Purge me with hyssop (an herb used as a purgative to cleanse the alimentary canal) and I shall be clean: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, God cleanses the secret chambers of the heart before the outer shell of the soul, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7) Every snowflake is formed by coalescing around a tiny particle of impurity in the upper atmosphere. At the center of every flake is an impurity, but God cleanses His elect even of that tiny speck of impurity of heart.
3 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! The tried-and-true soldier of the line may have suffered many wounds and hurts of battle, but he is thereby made a soldier of firmer resolve and stronger character. The same is true in the Army of God. The field army of the flesh must depend upon superior leadership and logistics in order to press on to victory. The Army of God has the King of Kings and the Maker of all things at his disposal to requisition in prayer. Not only that, but the field hospital is the healing Balm of Gilead. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? That healing Balm available to the line soldier of God is the Great Physician Himself- Jesus Christ! All that is needful is a touch, and He touches millions with healing balm every moment of time.
4 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! There is a silent mystery hidden in the lines of this last verse – Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me! When we have surrendered our sinful self-wills to Christ and assumed His will upon us for our lives, others will see Christ in us and working through us – not our works, but HIS! We actually live in Christ where there can be no death instead of the other way around. In Him we are One with the Father, with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost.
