The Potter's Hand

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House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?"—this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. But when the time finally came, I was abysmal. My only achievement in that class was my consistent poor performance. It turned out I was not that kind of creative. For those God foreknewhe also predestinedto be conformed to the image of his Son,that he might be the firstbornamong many brothers and sisters.

That said – the quality of the writing is superb and the fascinating man that is Josiah Wedgewood is depicted effectively at a pivotal historic period. A modern day reader may wonder that anyone achieved anything – let alone building a hugely successful business – given the doses of medications, leg amputations and scalping featured in the novel. Next, the potter must remove all foreign materials out like pebbles, twigs, etc. from the clay. He does it by submerging the clay in water to filter the dirt. Afterward, he sets the clay to dry but makes sure it doesn’t dry out completely as the water makes clay soft and pliable. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. In The Potter's Hand, his first novel for more than five years, AN Wilson has taken as his subject Josiah Wedgwood, the great craftsman and industrialist whose factories did so much to transform England in the 18th-century. Wilson is a prolific historian and biographer, with a scope ranging from the Elizabethans to the Victorians, but Wedgwood is a subject particularly close to his heart. Wilson's father was managing director of Wedgwood, his grandfather a master potter; he and his siblings are the first generation of Wilsons not to be industrial potters since the reign of George III. Isaiah 29:16 says, “ You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?A novelization of the life of Josiah Wedgewood of the famous Wedgewood pottery. Lots of fascinating historical reveals -- I didn't know that Josiah Wedgwood was Charles Darwin's grandfather, and I'd never heard of the Frog Service or the Portland Vase, both of which I immediately had to google -- but I wonder if this novel wouldn't have worked better as a biography, or maybe just a history of the time. (Although Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder, peopled with many of the same characters and occurring in much the same era, does that just fine.) If perhaps the clay dried out and became hard and brittle, the potter can still redeem it. He will break it into multiple pieces and submerge them in water to make it malleable. Then the potter will let the clay dry to the right consistency and start the process again. Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares Yahweh. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Shall I not be able, O house of Israel, to do to you as this potter? behold, as the clay of the potter are ye in my hands.

This means we must surrender to God’s will for our lives and only go where He calls us to go. The clay doesn’t tell the potter what to make; the potter decides what to make of the clay. For we are God’s handiwork,createdin Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do.As this potter am I not able to do to you? O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lo, as clay in the hand of the potter, So are ye in My hand, O house of Israel. O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” says the LORD. “Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 Gathering the clay I have always had a weird fascination with clay. The idea of using raw material and transforming it into a beautiful piece of art attracts me like a bee to a flower. When I was in primary school (the grades before junior high), I used to watch with envy fine arts students working on their creative projects in the corridors outside the classroom. I looked forward to the day when I will be able to take the class and unleash my creativity.

House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? ”—this is the LORD’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. Am I not able, house of Israel, to deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel. Cannot I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Then theLordGod formeda man from the dust of the groundand breathed into his nostrils the breathof life,and the man became a living being.Can I not do with you, house of Israel, as this Potter, says LORD JEHOVAH? Behold, like clay in the hands of a potter, so are you in my hands, house of Israel Then there are bizarre episodes like the real life Tom Byerley taking part in Washington’s real life crossing of the Delaware, though there is no historical evidence to support the idea that he was present for this event, nor that he ever had a romantic liaison with a Cherokee woman who equally bizarrely ends up working as a potter in Wedgwood’s factory. Wilson admits in his postscript that the account is heavily fictionalised, especially in respect to Tom's life, but excuses this because his purpose is to pay homage to Wedgwood rather than give an accurate biographical account of his life. For me, this means the book ends up being neither one thing nor the other and is less satisfying as a result.