Kerry Shook - God Can Repurpose Your Pain
In the 1930s, Noah McVicker, the owner of the Coutal Products Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, created this Play-Doh; he developed it as a non-toxic wallpaper cleaner that would clean coal residue off of wallpaper. It was originally called Coutal Wall Cleaner, which wouldn’t excite many kids to play with it. It was a top seller for the company for years, but after World War III, home heating moved away from coal and natural gas, and the wall cleaner was pretty much obsolete.
In the 1950s, Joe McVicker, the founder’s nephew, took over when the company was really close to bankruptcy. At the time, his sister-in-law was a preschool teacher, and her kids were having trouble playing with modeling clay because it was too hard for them to shape with their little fingers. So, she started using the wallpaper cleaner in her classroom, and her kids loved it. They decided to market it as a children’s toy and changed the name to Play-Doh.
One year later, it was one of the top-selling children’s toys, selling over 3 million cans. Since 1956, over 3 billion cans of Play-Doh have been sold. It’s been speculated that if you took all the Play-Doh ever created since 1956 and put it through a Play-Doh Fun Factory, it would make a snake that would wrap around the Earth 300 times. That’d be fun to do! Play-Doh was repurposed, and it went from failure to amazing success. It went from a mistake to a miracle, and God wants to repurpose your pain. He wants to take your mistakes and turn them into miracles, but we have to be Play-Doh people-people who let God mold us and make us and take our failures, mistakes, and pain and repurpose them. We have to be Play-Doh people.
So, I want you to take out your Play-Doh right now; just open it up. It’s a little harder than you would think it would be, but you can do it. All things are possible with God, and so take out your Play-Doh and just hold it in your hand. Do you see how moldable it is? It is stress-relieving, isn’t it? And don’t forget that distinctive smell that brings you back to your childhood. You know, there’s nothing like the smell of Play-Doh. So, it’s moldable, and we are the Play-Doh in God’s hands; He’s molding us and making us and repurposing us at times. I want you to make something with this. You know, there are endless possibilities with Play-Doh of what you can make, but first, I just want you to make a ball. You know, that’s always fun for me as a kid. Make a ball. That’s it! You can do it. Make a ball and then throw it at your neighbor. No, don’t do that! Make a ball. What’d you do in church today? We made Play-Doh balls! It was awesome! Oh, you helped out in the children’s ministry? No, Pastor Carrie taught us!
Okay, you made a ball; that’s great! Now, I want you to make a bowl. Make a bowl! Yeah, you can make a bowl, can’t you? Alright! Yeah, make a really nice bowl. Last night, a lady came up to me afterward, and she spent the whole message time making me, you know, and it kind of looked like me. It was kind of scary! You know, I don’t think she heard anything I said, but she made this really cool Play-Doh model of me. So, you made a bowl; now I want you to crush it and make a plate. How do you make a plate? Yeah, that gets some stress out right there! Make a plate. Think about someone you’re really frustrated with and make a plate. It’s healing! Yeah! Now you’ve made a plate. Now notice, whenever you repurpose your Play-Doh, you had to crush it and remake it and remold it. God has to do that in our lives. See, we’re the Play-Doh; we have to stay moldable because there are times that God has to remake us. He takes us, molds us, and repurposes us for something new that’s coming into our lives.
It doesn’t feel very good at the time when God is molding you and remaking you. It’s like, «God, I mean, you’ve been using me for this, and God, you know this has been great, and now what’s happening?» God’s repurposing you for the next part of the plan, because God’s already in the future. He knows what the future holds; He knows what’s coming; He knows the new thing coming, and He wants to prepare you. Sometimes He repurposes us to fulfill the ultimate purpose that we have, and if we let Him mold us, if we realize we’re the Play-Doh, and He’s the one molding us, then we’ll be prepared for the new thing that He has for us. Sometimes, God wants to take us to a higher purpose, a higher level of His blessings and His strength, and it takes that remolding that’s painful at times.
Well, we’re going to look at Jeremiah, the prophet. They called him the «weeping prophet» because he wept for 40 years over the sins of Israel as they turned away from God. He preached a message of truth and hope for it to only fall on deaf ears, and all he got in return was hate. Jeremiah needed a word from God; he needed to know there was a purpose in the pain. He needed to know that no problem could stop God’s purpose. Maybe today you need a word from God. You need to know there’s a purpose in your pain. You need to know there’s no problem that can come into your life that can stop God’s purpose for your life. God told Jeremiah, «I want you to go down to the potter’s house and watch him make beautiful pottery, and there I’ll give you my message and you’ll understand my purpose.» So, let’s stand in honor of God’s word and would you follow along with me in Jeremiah chapter 18? This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: «Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.»
So, I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, «Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?» declares the Lord. «Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its sin, even then, I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.» You can be seated.
So, Jeremiah goes down to the potter’s house, and he sees the potter spinning his wheel, this master craftsman molding the clay, fashioning the clay into a beautiful vessel. God speaks to Jeremiah, and He speaks to us today. The first thing we learn from the potter is that God has a place and we have a place in the world, and we better understand what is God’s place and what is our place in the world. God is the potter- that’s His place-and we are the clay; that’s our place. God is the one who makes, and we are the ones being made. To discover my purpose, I have to look to the one who created me for a purpose. He’s the only one who can also repurpose my pain.
So, let’s look again at this passage and really dig into it. In Jeremiah 18:6, He said, «Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?» declares the Lord. «Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.» God says, «Don’t forget that I’m the potter and you’re the clay in my hand.» I have to recognize that God is the potter, and He can do whatever He wants to do in my life because He knows what’s best for me-because He’s God and I’m not. He’s the one forming and fashioning me. God’s job is to make and remake us; our job is to let Him. Don’t ever forget that He’s the maker and we’re the made. But too many times, we try to switch places with God. At times, we try to be the potter because we don’t think God is doing a very good job. We don’t like what God is making us into; we don’t like what’s happening in our lives.
When we don’t like what God is doing in our lives, we try to be the potter. We try to switch places with God; we forget our roles and we try to be God. We want to be the master potter who’s making and molding. We try to make ourselves rather than letting God make us. Look at Isaiah 45: 9: «What sorrow awaits those who argue with their creator! Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, 'Stop! You’re doing it wrong? ' Does the pot exclaim, 'How clumsy can you be? '» Can you imagine that? You’re making something out of Play-Doh, and can you imagine as you’re making something out of the Play-Doh, it starts talking to you? The Play-Doh starts complaining to you, saying, «You’re horrible! You don’t know what you’re doing!»
Now, that’s what the Play-Doh could say to me, because I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not a Play-Doh professional! Did you know there are Play-Doh professionals out there? I had no idea, but there are! There are artists whose medium is Play-Doh; that’s their purpose in life. How sad! I mean, I’m not a master craftsman; I’m not a Play-Doh professional, but God is a master craftsman; He knows what He’s doing! We’re the clay, but many times we tell the master craftsman, «You’re doing it all wrong.» We’re the clay complaining to the potter. «God, you don’t know what you’re doing; you’re doing it all wrong!» This verse says that’s crazy-it’s like the clay telling the master potter how to do his job! The verse says sorrow awaits those who argue with their creator. When we try to play God’s part rather than our part, it always ends in sorrow.
Because we’re not God; we’re not the potter- we’re the clay. We try to play God’s part because we want to be in control. We try to control circumstances that are uncontrollable. We try to control people that just don’t cooperate with us. We try to control our image; we try to control our problems; we try to control our pain. But most of life, folks, is just out of our control. The more you try to control everything, the more life spins out of control. But we try it all the time, especially at the start of a new year. It’s like, «I’m going to get control of my life this year! I’m going to get it all together this year! I’m going to get control of things!» But you can’t get control of your life. But you can get your life under control when you place it under Christ’s care and control. When you surrender to the potter, you realize you’re not the potter; you’re the clay. God’s job is to make me and mold me; my job is to let Him.
God is the master craftsman, and it’s His job to make me into a unique vessel for my unique purpose. My job is just to stay on the wheel-just stay on the potter’s wheel! When you climb off the potter’s wheel and try to switch places with God, you get frustrated, filled with anxiety. It wears you out because you were never created to be the potter; you were created to be the clay and trust your creator, who knows what He’s doing. When circumstances come into our lives that make no sense, we don’t understand why we feel like getting off the wheel. When we’re praying for God to come through but it feels like the heavens are silent and God is nowhere around, we feel like getting off the wheel. When we’re blindsided by betrayal or devastated by loss and we wonder how a loving God could have allowed it, we want to get off the wheel.
But stay on the wheel, because God’s not finished yet! God will finish what He started. One of my favorite promises in Scripture is in Philippians. Look at it with me-Philippians 1:6: «And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.» Saying, God will finish what He started; He will complete the good work He started in you, and maybe right now everything looks like a mess and nothing makes sense. It just means the master isn’t finished with the masterpiece yet. God can take the mess and turn it into a masterpiece. It may look like a mess right now, but God’s not finished yet! Don’t get off the master potter’s wheel until He’s finished!
Elicia Brook, who writes the Proverbs 31 devotional, said one morning her 8-year-old daughter, Maggie, announced that she was going to make something fabulous, and she headed down to the basement in search of crafting supplies. Elicia said later, when she went down to check on her daughter, she was sitting in the middle of a mess that didn’t look so fabulous. There was a jumble of paint splats, glue puddles, tape wads, and paper scraps that filled Maggie’s workplace. Elicia said, «I guess she noticed my puzzled look because Maggie put down her paintbrush, looked up at me, and confidently said, 'Don’t worry, Mom, it’s not fabulous because I’m not finished! '» God wants to whisper that to someone’s heart today: «It’s not fabulous because I' m not finished!»
It’s not fabulous right now-it’s far from it-because God’s not finished. I know it looks awful right now; I know it doesn’t make any sense right now. God says, «That’s because I’m not finished yet! I know it looks ugly right now, but God says I’m not finished making something beautiful out of it. I know it looks like a mess right now, but God says I’m turning it into a masterpiece. It’s not fabulous because I’m not finished! Stay on the wheel; trust me; let me finish! I can turn the mess into a miracle; I can bring beauty from ashes and purpose from pain. Stay on the wheel!»
Some of you are right there right now; nothing makes sense, it looks awful, it looks ugly, but God’s not finished yet, and He can bring beauty from ashes. Stay on the wheel; let God finish! Look at Jeremiah 18:4. It says, «But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.» It says the potter was shaping the clay to what seemed best to him. The potter has a design; the potter has a design in mind for the clay that pleases him. He sees the beautiful vessel that he’s creating and the purpose he’s creating it for, and God, the master craftsman, is shaping you into the vessel that seems best to him because He knows what’s best for you. But the problem here is real evident; it says, «But the clay was marred,» so he had to start over.
There was something in the clay that was hindering it from being molded. Sometimes we hinder God from molding us and making us into what is best for us. We have these marred mistakes in our lives that keep us from really letting God mold us and make us. So, what could have caused the clay in the potter’s hands to be marred? Well, maybe the clay was too hard. If clay is too hard or too dry, it’s not moldable, and sometimes our hearts become hard when God calls us to obey Him, and we disobey. When God says, «Take this next step; that’s in my word,» but we say, «I don’t really want to do that. When you’ve got another one, God, I mean, I’ll do anything else but not that!» We disobey, and our hearts get a little harder.
Then our hearts become hard to God, and the more we obey God and take steps of obedience, even when we don’t understand it, the more our hearts soften toward God, and the more He molds us into His purpose. The problem is, we want God to tell us what He wants us to do, so we can decide if we want to do it or not. It’s like, «God, show me your will! I really need to know your will for the next stage of my life! I really need to know your direction for what’s coming up in my life! I need to know your will! God, show me your will so I can decide if I want to do it or not.» And God says, «It doesn’t work that way! You say yes, and then I’ll show you my will!»
That’s the way God works; that’s the way God always works. I have to understand that God knows what’s best for me, that He’s God and I’m not. He’s the one who put the stars in space; He created the universe with a word, and He’s a lot smarter than I am, so I can be the clay and let Him mold me. That’s when you’re filled with peace. But why else could the clay have been marred? Maybe it had too little consistency; maybe it had too much water in it, and it formed and shaped real quickly, but then it kind of just fell apart. Sometimes we have too little consistency because we have no conviction. There’s a big difference between belief and conviction. A belief is something you hold; a conviction is something that holds you. A belief is something you have until things get tough, and then you kind of give it up.
A belief is something you have when it’s convenient, but when it’s not, you give it up. A belief is something you have when you’re with one group of friends, but you give it up when you’re with another group of friends. A conviction, on the other hand, is something that no matter how tough it gets, no matter what comes against you, it holds you; it anchors you! That’s why we need to be anchored in God’s truth and the truth of God’s word. We’re going to focus on that starting next week as Chris and I start our New Year’s series called «Recycle: How God Makes All Things New.» We’re going to get really practical, and we’re going to help you anchor yourself in God’s word this year. We have little devotional guidebooks that you’re going to get; you’re going to learn how to have a devotion with God, journal with God, and spend some time with God-how to get anchored in God’s word.
Because when problems come our way, when you’re anchored in God’s word, you get stronger. When the winds blow and the storms hit and the earthquakes shake, you are unshakable and you’re strong in the Lord because of your convictions; because your roots are deep in God’s word. Well, another reason why the clay could have been marred in the potter’s hands is if there was a little pebble, a little piece of grain, or a little stone in the clay. When the potter’s hands touch it as the pot is spinning, it will streak the pot and cause a flaw. So maybe in our lives, there’s a mistake, a sin, a struggle, a hidden hurt, a failure, and we carry the scar of regret and guilt.
Really, we’re all marred; we all have mistakes and sins and regrets. We all have scars, and it doesn’t stop the plan of God. It says, because the pot was marred, the potter formed it into another pot. The pot was messed up, but the potter said, «That’s okay! I can take this pot and repurpose it!» And that’s what God does; He’s the God of the second chance! We’re all marred and messed up; we all have sins and regrets and mistakes and hurts, and God says, «I’m not going to throw you out. If you come to me for forgiveness and get back on the wheel, I’m going to take you and I’m going to remold you and remake you because I am the remaker; I am the rebuilder; I am the restorer; I’m the God of the second chance!»
Now, it’s amazing to see here that God, the master potter, when He sees the mar in the clay and the mistake, He doesn’t say, «Well, that’s no good! This clay will never be worth anything! I’m just going to throw it out!» No, He says, «I’m going to reform it! I’m going to reshape it! I’m going to repurpose it!» But the clay must be crushed before it’s made over. I mean, just think about the potter’s choice here: He can either throw it out and get rid of it, or He can crush it and reshape it. Some of you are being remolded and remade right now, and it doesn’t feel very good. You don’t know what God is doing in your life; it’s painful, you don’t understand it, and you don’t like it. But God says, «I know it’s painful! I know it doesn’t feel good, but I do this because I love you so much, because I’m not going to throw you out.»
Some of you feel like God has done with you. You’re thinking, «Carrie, I’ve blown it so many times! I can’t be used by God! I’m worthless! God is just going to put me on the shelf. I’m done! I’ll never fulfill my purpose! I missed it a long time ago.» But God says, «No way! I still have a purpose for you! I still have a plan! Even your sins can’t stop my plan; your pain cannot stop my purpose! I’m going to repurpose your pain, and your mess will become your message!» God says, «I love you and I’m not done with you! I’m not throwing you out! I haven’t given up on you!» But I have to remold you; it’s painful, but I’m not going to throw you out.
When you feel the pain of being remolded and repurposed, just know it’s the loving hands of God. He knows what He’s doing; He does it because He loves you. He’s not going to throw you out; He still has a plan. God gets right down into our mess and turns our mess into our message! So that we can help others who are going through the same things, God never wastes a hurt; God never wastes a single teardrop that you cry. He takes your pain and repurposes it. He takes your sins and somehow turns it around for His glory, and then you can help others who are having the same struggle experience victory in their lives.
I’ve talked to people who’ve said things like, «You know, 10 years ago I lost my job. It was awful, but now I look back and I’m so grateful because that’s when I turned to God.» All the pain turned me to God! Or, «Five years ago, because of my mess, I lost my marriage, and it was devastating, but the pain of my failure was what finally brought me to God.» See, God loves us so much that He’ll do just about anything to bring you to Himself so you can find your true purpose. Because there’s nothing like the feeling of being right in the middle of God’s will. There’s nothing like the feeling of joy you get when you’re doing what God made you to do in the time that He’s made you to do it. There’s nothing like being right in God’s timing, right in that zone of God’s purpose and timing in the season that He’s placed you in. There’s no joy like that-just knowing that you’re right there in God’s will, being used by God, being who He molded you to be.
You’re an ordinary clay pot, but you feel the power of God in your life. But the choice is yours: You can turn to God and get back on the wheel and let Him remake and remold you, or you can turn away from God and harden your heart. The most frustrating thing about Play-Doh is when a kid leaves it out, you know? It gets hard as a rock! I got this from the children’s ministry; it took five jars, five cans of Play-Doh before I got one that wasn’t hard as a rock, because they' d been left out, and somebody just put them back in so that I could get them and be really disappointed! You know, when you leave them out, they get so hard they’re unusable, they’re useless-you just have to throw them away.
That’s the way it is with us: When we harden our hearts, if we disobey and disobey, we refuse to get back on the wheel-our hearts get a little harder each time. As our hearts get harder, eventually our hearts harden, and when the Holy Spirit’s speaking to us, we just say, «No!» We disobey and disobey, and we become so hardened that God can’t use us. When Jeremiah walked outside the potter’s house into the potter’s field, his feet felt the crunch of broken pottery beneath his sandals. Why? Because when the pottery becomes too hard, it’s marred! It becomes unpliable, unmoldable; it has to be thrown out when it can no longer be molded and crushed and made into something new and repurposed. It becomes hard and just has to be thrown out.
Let that be a reminder to us to never let our hearts get hard. God says, «As long as you stay on the wheel, I’ll keep working with you! I don’t want to throw you out! I still have a plan for you, and I’ll make you into what I want you to be! I’ll use all the pain, all your screw-ups, everything-I can bring good out of it all!» But if you get off the wheel and go your own way and harden your heart time after time after time, then you walk into destruction. And that’s why in Hebrews 3:7 and 8, it says, «So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' Today, if you hear God’s voice, if God’s tugging on your heart, saying, 'I want you to get back up on the wheel because I’ve got a plan for you! I want you to obey me! I want you to look to me for direction! I want you to surrender to me! Stop trying to be the potter and control everything! That’s why you’re filled with anxiety and you’re overwhelmed and you have emptiness on the inside and fears that are overwhelming you, and you’re worn out.'» Because you were never meant to be the general manager of the universe; you were never meant to be the potter; you were made to be the clay.
Trust God and let Him mold you and make you into what He wants you to be, so you can be the vessel that He’s called you to be, where His power shines through you! Today, if God’s tugging on your heart, don’t harden your heart and disobey. If today God’s tugging on your heart that you need to receive salvation, that you need to stop trying to control your own life and be your own God, and let Him be God in your life, that you need to get saved today. If God’s tugging on your heart and you say, «You know what? Not today! It’s not a good time; maybe later; maybe when I’m older. Right now I’m having too much fun; maybe I’ll trust Christ when I’m older.» You don’t know that! Because you can only come to Christ when the Holy Spirit tugs on your heart, and there comes a time when if you reject Him and reject Him and reject Him, that that little tug gets softer; His voice gets quieter, and there comes a time when you can no longer hear Him and you can no longer come to Him.
If you’re hearing Him and He’s tugging on your heart and you feel that pull toward Him, but maybe you’re scared to trust Him- that means you still speak into your heart, and you can only come to Christ when He speaks to you, when He draws you. He’s drawing you right now, so it’s your time; it’s your day; this is the day of salvation. You just need to trust Him and receive Christ into your life today. Maybe today God’s tugging on your heart that this is the year that you take that step forward, that you become a member of the church, that you get that place to belong, you start growing in your faith and spending time with God, and you make church a priority. This is the year! He’s tugging on your heart.
So, I want you to be my disciple and get some discipline to do that with my power in your life, or maybe He’s just speaking to your heart right now because you’re right in the middle of the pain. It makes no sense; you’ve been going in the right direction, you’ve been obeying God, you’ve been following God, and right now it doesn’t make sense. You’re going through pain and problems and heartache, and it doesn’t make any sense. That’s because God is remolding you and repurposing you for the next level in your life. He’s getting you ready, and He is going to re-purpose all the pain. He’s getting you ready for that next season of your life, or maybe you’re walking through pain right now because you’ve been walking away from God. God loves you so much; He’s allowing the pain so that you’ll turn to Him, so you’ll come back to Him, so that He can re-purpose all the sins and the mess and mistakes into a masterpiece that only He can do.
I want us to bow right now as we kick off the new year. Let’s dedicate it to Him. Lord God, we love you! We just dedicate this year to you, and we ask you to do all that you want to do in our lives. Lord, so many times I try to be the potter and play your part, and I try to control everything, and then I get so stressed and overwhelmed, and I always fail. Lord, I try to do that; it seems like almost every day I get off the wheel, and then, Lord, you take me back onto that wheel where I trust you and feel your power and your strength as you mold and make me into what you want me to be. So, Lord, I pray today you’ll just help all of us to get on the wheel and let you do what you want to do in our lives, to prepare us for the next season, to re-purpose us for a greater purpose. And Lord, I pray for those going through such pain today. They’ve been following you, but nothing makes sense right now, and it’s hard for them to see how a loving God could allow some of these things into their life. Just remind them that you’re not finished yet! You’re not finished yet, and you’re going to bring something beautiful out of the ashes. You’re going to take all the ugliness, Lord, and bring beauty out of it. You’re going to take the pain and not waste it but re-purpose it.