“I can’t do this,” I thought as I wearily trudged up the side of what seemed like a monumental mountain. My heart was pounding as if it were about to explode out of my chest, and my legs were achingly numb. I began to use both hands to lift each leg for one more step on these final stone-stair steps. Under my breath I could only whisper: “This mountain is too big for me, and it’s beating me. I have feet of clay.”

Feet of clay. That reminded me of another picture of clay. My mind went to the descriptive imagery and word given to Jeremiah long ago:

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do… Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand’” (Jeremiah 18:1-6, ESV).

Clay in the potter’s hand. That’s us. Lumps of clay in the hands of the potter. He is the potter, we are the clay. To be molded—and remolded—worked and turned, refined on His potter’s wheel “as it seems good” for Him to do.

That picture of God puts things in real perspective for me. No longer do I consider myself in charge. No longer do I feel in control or self-reliant. Grandiose thoughts of myself burst like a bubble. Who am I? Who are we? What does God require of us?

God’s words spoken to Micah long ago are very clear about his requirements for us. He spoke of walking. Walking humbly with our God. What does that look like? How do we pick up our feet of clay and walk as He calls us to? Here are a few things to remember to walk humbly:

1. Remember Who GOD is: GOD is God. We are not. He is the King of the universe, the Lord of lords, Creator of the heavens and earth, our Maker. “But now, O Lord, you are our Father … you are our potter” (Isaiah 64:8, ESV)

2. Remember Who WE are: We are created in His image; made by Him for Him—not the other way around. The clay does not tell the potter how to be made. “We are the clay … we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8, ESV).

3. Remember WHY he made us: Ephesians 2:10 states: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We are created for good works. GOD’s good works. Holy, fruitful, redeeming good works. The work of reaching the unreached and spreading the gospel. The work of prayer and abiding with the One who made us, fills us and calls us.

Let us walk in those works today. Let us “walk humbly” with our God today as we reach beyond to the ends of the earth, to those who have never heard the name of Jesus.

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