Shaped by the Potter’s Hands: Finding Purpose in God’s Pressure
I came across a quote from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth way back in 2010 that stopped me in my tracks: “One of the areas that is particularly impacted by our view of God is our view of ourselves. If we do not see Him as He really is, if we believe things about Him that are not true, we will have a distorted view of ourselves.”
I wrote in my journal that day: How do I view myself? Sometimes I am my own worst critic, constantly comparing myself to others. The standard I should use is You, Lord. My model is You, not other people in this world.
Fifteen years later, I found this piece of paper again and realized I needed this truth then and I still need this truth now. Waiting on God is hard enough without falling into the comparison trap. When we measure ourselves against other people instead of finding our identity in Christ, we will always come up short. There will always be someone further along, more successful, more put together. Someone whose waiting season ended while ours is still dragging on.The problem isn’t that we notice others. The problem is we are using them as a measuring stick.
Waiting Seasons
During seasons of waiting, comparison becomes even more dangerous. We watch others move forward while we feel stuck. We see their progress and wonder what’s wrong with us. We start to believe that maybe we’re the problem. The truth is this: our view of God shapes our view of ourselves. If we see Him as disappointed or demanding, we will see ourselves as failures. If we believe He withholds blessing because we haven’t measured up, we will spend our lives striving and never arriving.
God’s promise speaks directly into the unknown. He already knows what’s ahead for us. He’s already mapped out a future filled with purpose and hope. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God said this to His people when they were in exile, facing 70 years of waiting. It wasn’t a promise of an easy road or immediate rescue. It was an encouragement to trust His plan even when the timeline felt unbearable.
Hope to Stand On
So what is hope, anyway? Hope is a sure expectation of God’s future promises. It’s rooted in trust, grounded in God’s unchanging nature. He will fulfill what He has promised. Hope doesn’t live in my ability to make things happen. This kind of hope looks different than what the world offers. The world tells us to hope for the best, to stay positive, to visualize our desired outcome. Biblical hope isn’t about manifesting or willing things into existence. It’s about resting in what God has already declared. It’s choosing to believe, even when circumstances tell a different story.
This hope doesn’t eliminate the struggle of waiting, but it changes what I am standing on. We don’t like to wait, we don’t like the pressure of staying in one place while nothing seems to be happening. Many times God is shaping us to prepare us for what is ahead. That shaping process can be challenging. We are like clay and He is the Potter.
Trust and Stay
Isaiah 45:9 says, “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” When I read that, my honest response was: Yes, Lord, I don’t see what You’re making, and I want to know what You’re making. I want to see the finished product. I want proof that this pressure, this waiting, this shaping process is going somewhere.
That’s not how the Potter works. He doesn’t give us the blueprint before He starts. He asks us to stay under the pressure of His hands.I heard a message at a women’s conference about surrendering to the Potter. The pastor asked a question that convicted me: What would happen if you chose to stay?. We’re always looking for the new, getting impatient waiting for the Potter’s hands to shape us. So we jump ship. We don’t stay in the pressure of His hands. We’re looking for something that will change us quickly.
Staying requires something we’re not naturally good at: trust without proof. The clay on the wheel can’t see what the potter sees. It only feels the pressure, the spinning, the water-slicked hands pushing and pulling. If clay could think, it would probably panic. It would want to get off the wheel. It would argue that this can’t possibly be leading anywhere good.
We do the same thing. When God applies pressure, when the wheel keeps spinning and we can’t see the shape taking form, we assume something’s wrong. We think maybe we misheard Him. Maybe this isn’t His plan after all. Maybe we should find an easier path. So we pull away before the work is complete. We settle for being half-formed because the process of becoming feels too intense.
Many times we have allowed the voices around us to shape us when that is the Holy Spirit's job. We have to surrender to the good hands of the Father. The only way we can experience transformation is if we stay. When he starts pressing, we go find something else that is more comfortable. And we miss out.
I’ve done this. I’ve pulled away when the shaping felt too hard, when I couldn’t see where God was going in the process. I’ve looked for the comfortable alternative, the path that didn’t require so much trust. And every time, I’ve found myself back on the wheel, because God is too loving to let me stay half-formed. He’ll bring me back to pressure, back to spinning, back to the question: will you stay this time?
One of a Kind
The Potter’s hands are good. They’re skilled. They know exactly what pressure to apply and when to ease up. They know how long to let the clay spin before shaping the next section.
We can’t see the design from where we sit on the wheel, but He can. When we surrender to the pressure and trust the process, something beautiful happens. Not overnight. Not without pressure. But the shaping is real. The transformation is real. And it only happens if we stop running and stop trying to figure out what the Potter is making and start trusting that He knows what He’s doing.
He shapes us each individually and differently. We are not comparable. Each of us will be shaped into different vessels. He takes our scars and makes them into a vessel of beauty. It's not possible for us to be like someone else.
This is how comparison steals our joy. We’re looking at someone else’s finished vessel and wondering why we’re still on the wheel. We’re comparing our chapter three to someone else’s chapter twenty. We forget that the Potter doesn’t mass produce. He doesn’t use a mold. Every vessel is custom designed, shaped specifically for the purpose He has in mind.
Your waiting season doesn’t look like theirs. Your shaping process doesn’t follow the same timeline. God is making you into you, the truest version, the one He envisioned before you were born, and what He is creating is worth the wait. You are a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
Do you wait well?
Are you measuring yourself against other people, against timelines, against outcomes?
🌼 If this encouraged you today, forward it to a friend who’s in a hard season. And if you’re ready to find joy even in the waiting, grab my devotional Even in the Silence or the Joy Spark Journal to help you notice God’s presence in everyday moments.
