Dirty Hands

“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Dirty hands

Often when one considers the work of God on the human soul, one thinks of the process as being done from a distance, with the Creator afar off, not interacting directly with the Christian being refined.

This morning, I prepared the usual morning meme for my church, and I found a picture that embodied the Scripture above. I found a picture that showed hands forming a pot on the wheel. I noticed that the line between pot hand was blurred by the clay which cover all.

In a moment, I thought of Jesus, how He came as a pot, not unlike those He had created. Like the potter in the picture, He was one with the process, and His hands, and indeed all of Him, were soiled and bloodied.

I also thought of His intimacy in my life as I go through my life, being sanctified and refined over time. He has not ordained trial into my life and left me alone. He has walked with me, embracing my soul through every painful step. I know that in my affliction, He has borne much more.

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:1-5 NKJV

He came to earth to live the life of His creation, and dwell among us. He made the way for us to be saved, not as a distant God, far removed, but oh so very near. We have a Savior who has experienced all that we have, and lived sinlessly, perfect, providing full payment for our sins.

Because I know that He endured trials and temptations, I know that I can trust Him. As followers of Jesus we have the certitude that Jesus is for us and will not abandon us. We also know that He truly knows us. In our stumbling and sins, He remembers that we are but dust.

“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalms 103:10-14 NKJV

Brothers and sisters, as we are refined by God, let us rejoice that our Creator King came down from Heaven to be with us, to get His hands dirty, as He went to the cross to pay for our sins.

We do not worship a God with no skin in the game, for Jesus sacrificed His body to be broken, rent, that we have access to the Father. He was the veil, the dividing line between we and the Father. He have been given His holiness in exchange for our sin, which has been done away with in Jesus.

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:19-23 NKJV

As Jesus got HIs hands dirty, let us also. Going out and sharing the Gospel can be daunting, as we go out and interact with people for whom we might never encounter otherwise, but that is the nature of the mission. So many people are in need of help, whether it be a listening ear, or a strong back. Jesus walked amongst those who reviled Him, yet He did so with great joy and intention.

We must be intentional to go and reach the lost.

Even if we must get our hands dirty.

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