“You heavens above, rain down righteousness;
let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
let salvation spring up,
let righteousness grow with it;
I, the LORD, have created it.
“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker,
to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘He has no hands’?
Woe to him who says to his father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to his mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’
“This is what the LORD says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
It is I who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
says the LORD Almighty.” (Isaiah 45:8-13)

Just because you got mad at God doesn’t mean that you should have. God is God and we aren’t. Israel suffered because it deserved to suffer. The nation had failed to worship God exclusively, chasing after meaningless idols instead. They had mistreated their neighbors and one another. But no one had a right to criticize God for how things turned out or for the pain and inconvenience they might experience, any more than a broken bit of pottery on the ground had any cause to be speaking ill of the artist who made pots.

God made the universe and everything within it. And when he made it all, he announced that it was all very good, from beginning to end. How could it be otherwise with God as its maker? The heavens above declare the glory of God and the same from the earth below. Is there suffering, is there evil? God is still in control and still going about the business of building his universe. The unfinished pot has no cause for criticism or concern. In the end, it will look just fine. A half baked thing never looks so good. But wait until you taste the finished bread!

Even Cyrus, a man who didn’t even know God, would do just what God wanted and in a wonderful way.

We can only see a tiny portion of eternity, the smallest fraction that exists during the course of our single lifespan. We don’t see enough of the finished pot to legitimately criticize the artist putting it all together.

Send to Kindle