Isaiah 64:8 “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay; you are the potter and we are the work of your hand.” 

All leaders are molded by someone in their lives, by circumstances, through responsibilities and in experiences. Many of us were molded in part by our earthly fathers like a piece of clay placed in their hands when we were born and continued perhaps for a lifetime. I was blessed to have a Christian father who took seriously his fatherly responsibility like a potter to mold my brother and me to be more like Christ. He was not perfect by any means, but I can look back to see the work of his hands in my life. When I became a Christian, my father wanted God the Father to be the major and priority potter to mold me and teach me His Word and His ways. This is a true father to son relationship and mentorship which has no substitute. This is your responsibility as an earthly father to your children.

God tells Isaiah twice in Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other.” Then we find this question in Isaiah 45:9 “Does the clay say to the potter, what are you making?” We often ask this question when we go through the molding process, and we probably even asked our earthly fathers this question growing up. When a potter finishes the molding process, he takes the molded clay and places it in the kiln which is a furnace or oven for baking and maturing/solidifying the final product. Until this process is completed, the clay is still soft and can be molded by other influences. God often takes us through this process to solidify us into the Christian man and leader He wants to make. He has that right, and we need His potter’s hand to shape us into the image of His Son. He works to mold us into vessels that are useful, pleasing and purposeful to Him. We may ask the Lord, “What are you making?" However, we should be saying to him, “You are my Father; I am the clay; you are the potter, and I want to be the work of your hand.” If so, you will become the Christian leader He wants to make you to be.