Jeremiah 18:3-10 So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel.
Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.
Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’t I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?”
God’s Decree! “Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel.
At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them.
At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.
These verses reminded me of the hymn “Have Thine Own Way Lord” by Adelaide A Pollard. This hymn was a poem written in 1902 in a time of personal discouragement.
Adelaide was a Bible teacher and a hymn writer who hoped to go to Africa as a missionary. She was unable to raise the money she needed for support while she was gone.
In her discouragement she went to a prayer service where she heard a woman praying next to her. The woman said “It really doesn’t matter what you do with us. Lord, just have your own way with our lives.”
Pollard was inspired by the woman’s words and studied the story of the potter in Jeremiah 18. From this she wrote the four stanzas for the hymn.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord by Adelaide A. Pollard. Music by George Stebbins.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
Lord, forgive me of my sins this day. Pour out your grace and mercy into my heart. Wash me and make me whole.
Work on me Lord and make me the way you wish me to be. Bring your joy and comfort into my life. Help me to shine for you. Give me opportunities to spill your joy over into the lives of those around me.
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