Watching a potter at work is pleasing. The potter’s wheel spins fast as his hands skillfully shape the wet clay. It’s all so captivating—so easy—right?

Actually, anyone who has tried making pottery knows what a scrupulous, pains-taking process it is. The process of turning a lump of clay into a work of art requires four main steps: weathering, wedging, shaping and firing.

Imagine if you were that lump of clay, and you found out you were about to be weathered, wedged, shaped and fired. You would certainly realize what a difficult, probably unpleasant process awaits!

Well, you are that lump of clay. Child Rearing With Vision says God the Father has a “potter-to-clay relationship with mankind,” quoting Isaiah 64 verse 8: “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; we all are the work of thy hand.”

Part of this inspiring spiritual analogy is quite literal: God formed Adam from dust (Genesis 2:7). The origin of every human, like clay, is in the ground.

“[Isaiah 64 verse 8] describes how God creates spiritual character in His converted sons and daughters (see also Jeremiah 18:6). God made us from clay so He could mold and shape us (with our consent) to become exactly like Him—with perfect spiritual character. God could not do this had He made us out of spirit” (ibid).

God is the Potter; we are the clay. To better understand God’s potter-to-clay relationship with mankind, we can examine how physical clay is weathered, wedged, shaped, and fired.

1. Weathering

A potter can’t just plop any old lump of clay on his wheel and start spinning. First, the clay must be weathered. Weathering the clay means storing it in moist containers for months as it decomposes, gains plasticity, changes color, and starts to stink.

Spiritually, we all stink—at least at first. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Even our human righteousness apart from God stinks like a filthy rag. We must reach the point where we acknowledge our spiritual stench so God can really start to work with us.

2. Wedging

Brace yourself—this is going to hurt. Wedging is a violent process by which air pockets and hard lumps are removed from the clay, making it more malleable. The clay is beaten, bashed, pummeled, kneaded, cut in half repeatedly, slammed against a hard surface, and trampled underfoot.

Don’t we often feel like wedged clay after receiving correction?

1 Corinthians 5 verse 7 says we must be purged of the spiritual leaven of sin. Hebrews 12 verse 6 reveals that God scourges His children through correction. Doesn’t that word seem familiar? Before crucifixion, Jesus Christ was scourged with whips embedded with shards of bone and metal—agonizing torture that ripped apart his flesh.

True Christians are wedged—purged and scourged—by the Master Potter. This is violent and painful. But it gets even worse if we resist and rebel.

Correction is vital to our development from lumpy clay into lovely pottery. We must keep the ultimate vision of correction in mind: it is part of the process of becoming spirit-born sons of God! (verse 7).

3. Shaping

As the weathered-and-wedged clay spins on the potter’s wheel, the shaping process begins. The potter uses his hands to guide the clay into the proper shape. Occasionally, he will sprinkle water or oil on it, or rub it with a wet sponge, to ensure it doesn’t become too hard and brittle.

“The human man is made literally from clay,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in The Incredible Human Potential. “God is like the master potter forming and shaping a vessel out of clay. But if the clay is too hard, it will not bend into the form and shape he wants. If it is too soft and moist, it lacks firmness to ‘stay put’ where the potter bends it.”

God is forming and fashioning in us His holy, righteous character. He is molding and shaping us into Gods. He is a perfect Master Potter, but He needs the best clay to shape the best Gods.

“[T]he human clay must be pliable, must yield willingly. If the human stiffens up and resists, he is like clay that is too dry and stiff. The potter can do nothing with it. It will not give and bend. Also, if he is so lacking in will, purpose and determination that he won’t ‘stay put’ when God molds him partly into what God wants him to be—too wishy-washy, weak, lacking root of character—he will never endure to the end. He will lose out” (ibid).

4. Firing

Finally, the shaped clay undergoes firing. It is placed inside a kiln and heated slowly so it doesn’t explode. If the temperature gets too high, the potential vase or jug will warp out of shape. If the temperature remains too low, the vessel will be too soft, lacking density and durability.

Following the first round of firing, the potter removes the clay vessel from the kiln, adds decorations such as paint or precious metals, puts it back in the kiln, takes it out again and perhaps adds more decorations, and sends it back into the fiery furnace yet again. Each time the vessel comes out of the fire, the potter examines it for cracks, flakes, or drooping.

Physical clay endures repeated fiery trials—and so do we! “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Expect fiery trials! They help complete our creation as Gods! We must not crack or explode in the fire. Remember that God promises never to try us beyond what we can handle with His help (1 Corinthians 10:13). He is the One monitoring the heat and carefully checking for blemishes.

Through weathering, wedging, shaping, and firing, a lump of stinking clay becomes a lovely work of fine pottery. How similar this process is to our potter-to-clay relationship with God.

When life gets hard, trust the process. After all, we are becoming Gods.