Have you ever wished you were different than you are? You might wish that you had good looks, different skin color, different hair, different height, or different health. You might wish that you had wealth, a different position in life, a different country, different parents, or different abilities. Or maybe you just wish that you had fewer problems. But who are you to question God. Romans 9:20-21 “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”
This passage hits at the center of your relationship with God. Do you accept that God is your creator and has the right to make you what you are? Does He have the right to bring trials into your life? Does He have the right to tell you how you should live your life? As a Christian, you believe that God created everything and that He also made you. How can you question God or complain about how He made you? He is God and has the right to do whatever He pleases. You do not have the right to question your Maker. It is your position to conform to His will.
There are two general ways you can react to how God has made you and where He has placed you in life. You can be bitter and rebel against God. Why did He make me as I am? Why do I have this handicap? Why do I look the way I do? Why do I have these difficult circumstances? You can compare yourself to others and wish that you were like them instead of the way you are. You can be unhappy and fight against God or reject Him. Or you can accept what God has given you and submit to His will in your life. God has the right as the King of the Universe to make you as you are. You can praise God and be thankful for what he has given you. You can submit to Him and acknowledge that He knows best. He is the potter and you are the clay. He can deal with you as He chooses.
I think of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) in which the master gave talents or money to each servant according to their ability. The important thing was not how much ability each servant had or how much money they received. The important thing was that the one given five talents and the one given two talents used their ability and the money given to them to make a profit for their master. The other servant did not use his ability or the money given him for the profit of the master. As a result he was cursed and cast into outer darkness.
God has given each of us certain abilities. Our abilities are not the same. You may compare yourselves to someone else and wonder why you don’t have the ability that they do. But who are you to question God? 1 Peter 4:11 “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” God has given each of us abilities. My abilities are different from your abilities. I shouldn’t compare myself to you. Nor should I question God for not giving me different abilities. Instead, I should use what abilities God has given for His glory.
Things can happen in your life that will significantly change you. You may have something happen to you physically or some event may happen in your life that significantly changes who you are. Even though you are “marred”, God can take you and make you into something else as it pleases Him. Jeremiah 18:1-4 “The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ‘Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.’ Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.” You need to accept that regardless of what you are today, God is supreme and rules in your life and can use you for His glory if you allow Him.
In the Bible, we read about the man named Job. God allowed Satan to take away all of Job’s possessions to include his children. This is how Job responded: Job 1:20-21 “Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’” Then God allowed Satan to cause painful boils to come over all of Job’s body. Job 2:7-10 “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Even though Job questioned why God allowed these things to happen to him, he accepted what God allowed to happen to him and continued to worship God. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” With these words, Job gave us an example of how we should accept trials that come into our lives.
My encouragement is to accept how God has made you, where He has placed you in life, and what abilities you have. Accept the trials that God allows to come into your life and continue to praise and worship Him. Determine to use the abilities that God has given you for the glory of God.