The
Encarta Dictionary states that ‘pliable’ means that something is flexible;
easily bent, molded, persuaded or influenced; adaptable to change. Sounds like it would be easy to work with
something that is pliable, but you may find it is not as easy as you
think. My family lived in Spain when I
was 11 years old. My Mom and I used to
go to a ceramic class once a week where we worked with liquid clay. Liquid clay is not like play dough but rather
like a very thick cream which we would pour into a mold. We then had to let the liquid clay dry enough
to remove from the mold. We would then
have to trim excess clay that stuck out from where the two halves of the mold
fit together. First we trimmed it away
by a sharp clay knife, and then we would have to sand it down to a smooth
finish. Sometimes the clay would be too
hard to make the changes then we had to throw it into a bin where the class
instructor would later crush it into powder and add water to it to make it into
pliable liquid clay that could be poured into a mold again.
“Yet,
O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our Potter, and we all are
the work of Your hand.” Isaiah 64:8 AMP
Isaiah
64:8 reminded me of this experience and I realized that I want to always be pliable
in God’s hands. I never want to be
so hard that he has to throw me into the crushing bin. Being pliable in God’s hands means that I
need to be pliant, willing to do things His way. When I was young in the Lord I always tried to
please other people. It was my way of
controlling the outcome of any relationships and encounters. I figured that if I always did what they
wanted then they would never reject me.
This attitude came from having a very low self-esteem. God showed me that this compliance with
everyone else’s wishes, this pliable attitude was actually sin. We should never be pliable to others, only to
the One who made us and continues to shape us.
I can relate to Moses because he seemed to have a low opinion of himself
as well
Consider
Moses when he spoke with God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-4:17. God told him that He would send him to speak
to Pharaoh about His people and that He would deliver them. Moses repeatedly made excuses, first thinking
himself as someone no one would listen to (3:11), secondly his excuse was not
having the authority to back him up when he went (as if telling the Israelites
that the God of their fathers was not enough) (3:13), next he doubted that
anyone would believe that God had spoken to him (4:1), and even God gave an
answer for these three excuses Moses still was resistant to God’s direction by
stating he was an awkward speaker (slow of speech) (4:10). Moses kept telling God what he could not
do. If I were God I probably would have
responded, “Who are you to tell Me, Who created you, what you can and cannot
do?!”
“Oh,
your perversity! You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be considered of
no more account than the clay? Shall the thing that is made say of its maker,
He did not make me; or the thing that is formed say of him who formed it, He
has no understanding?” Isaiah 29:16
But
God, in His infinite patience, just kept countering Moses doubts, whittling
away at the rough edges of the clay of Moses’ life, and making him into the
spokesman that God created him to be.
Consider
again my problem with low self-esteem: I
started yielding to God instead of others and He has cut away the rough edges
of my life so that I find my esteem in Him now and when I experience rejection
it does not harm me. It does not hurt
because I know by experience He accepts me.
As I said in my bio here on my blog: Many years ago there was this little girl. She
was like a brilliantly colored caterpillar. People liked her because she tried
real hard to make every one like her. She went to church all the time because
they liked her there too, but she didn't know the One that church was all
about. She thought going to church would make her a Christian and make God like
her. She found out that going to church would never be enough. God did more
than like her, He LOVED her. His love was enough and she accepted that love.
She changed from that pretty caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly! Is God finished with me yet? No, for I find there are other areas I need
to yield to Him, and every time I yield something to Him I become just a little
more pliable in His hands.
God
is ready to change you too. Have you any
rough edges in your life? If you are not
sure, ask the Lord to show you. He is
faithful and will reveal them to you but remember the only way we can be
changed, the only way to get rid of those hard rough edges in our lives is to
place ourselves in His hands so He can whittle away at them and create us into
the vessels He chooses for His glory.
Are you ready to be used for His glory?
Make yourself pliable by placing yourself in His hands – completely
yielded – and just watch what He can do!
