Marred, But Not
Broken
If you have ever baked a cake or cookies, you know that not every cake and not every cookie will be perfect. If you are making them for a special occasion, you will select only the perfect cookies and set the rest aside, let your children eat them, or even throw them out. If only one turns out imperfect, you might eat it immediately.
When you bake a cake, it might turn out too brown. No problem — you can cover it with pretty icing, and no one will know the difference. If it is too dry, you sear it with a sauce. As a cook, you know how to rescue even the imperfect cake, for you have invested too much energy and too many ingredients to destroy it.
Now imagine yourself as a potter. You're working diligently to mold the original lump of clay into a beautiful, symmetrical shape. You are putting the finishing touches on it when a loud noise causes you to jump just when your fingers are working on the inside of the top of the vase. Your reflex action causes your hand to pull back sharply — and leave a deep gouge in
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the soft clay on the top of the vase. The symmetry of the vase has been marred, and it will take a special effort to correct the gouge and restore the vase to its original shape. Yet you are determined to do so, for in your mind's eye you can still see how it ought to look.
Some of us have less patience than others. The less patient person quickly gives up in disgust, setting aside the marred vase or decorative ornament so he or she can start on a fresh project. Rather than putting in the time and effort needed to restore the marred area, they reject the object they have been working on.
Just like the potter working on the vase, the master Potter is at work shaping us to fit His purpose for us. Yet events in life can cause us to make moves that may for a time force Him to treat us like a marred vessel. He may actually need to suspend His shaping process while He works to restore what has been marred.
A Temporary Relapse
Deep disappointment in what God lets happen may cause a temporary reaction that can cause such marring. Roy, for example, was very close to Debbie, and she just adored him. So when she was killed in a bus accident, he had great difficulty accepting her death.
One Saturday night some weeks after her death we stayed overnight in Roy's parents' house in Van Nuys, California. We planned to go home to Apple Valley very early so we could go to church the next morning. Just before we left, Roy was sitting at the kitchen table. Suddenly he said, "I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. I see no earthly use that Debbie was
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taken. If that's Christianity, I don't want any part of it."
I said, "God have mercy on you. You don't mean it."
Roy said, "Yes, I do."
He truly believed God had no business letting Debbie die. After all the effort World Vision had made to get her to us and the loving care she had received in our home, she was gone. She was an unfinished vessel as far as Roy was concerned. At that point, Roy pushed away the loving hand of God, and he was a marred vessel for a time.
Now notice how God set about restoring the marred vessel. The next morning Roy and I returned to Apple Valley, and we went to church. Pastor Bill Hansen, then our preacher in the Presbyterian church we attended in Apple Valley said in his sermon, "Don't be afraid of tomorrow, of taking turns, or turning corners in your life, because when you turn that corner, God is there." On his way out of church, Roy shook hands with Bill and said, "You must have been reading my mail. You were talking to me this morning."
As we left I said to Roy, "Do you remember what you said last night?"
"Yes," he said, "God knew I did not mean it."
God knows our hearts, even though our humanness gets in the way. So He sends messengers who help us get our eyes back on the Master Potter.
Possible Permanent Marring
Potentially more devastating can be an incident in which we are personally responsible for injury to another
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person. My mother told me a story about Dr. George Truett, the great Southern Baptist preacher, that illustrates this. Dr. Truett and a friend were on a hunting expedition. His gun went off accidentally, and he shot his friend, who died later that day. That could have marred him forever, for the sense of guilt that this kind of accident creates can cause us to react so negatively that God has to set us aside.
Yet Dr. Truett was able to accept what had happened as something that God, in His divine sovereignty, had let happen. As a result, God was able to shape him into an even more effective vessel than before. His preaching became significantly more powerful.
My feeling is that people who have been restored, who have experienced God's marvelous forgiveness, have a fresh anointing. They have a new sense of the forgiveness and grace of God. Out of gratitude and love for the Lord, they are more powerful than ever.
King David is a classic example of that in his affair with Bathsheba. Now you really have to think back on how long God had been shaping David before that event.
You'll remember that David was a shepherd boy, the youngest of eight brothers. He seemed to have developed an unusually powerful relationship with God while tending his father's sheep. Not only can we imagine him writing a song or two that later became part of the Psalms, but we also know he tackled the wild animals that were determined to make off with his sheep. He told King Saul:
"Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of
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the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God." (1 Sam. 17:34-36)
Amazingly, his brothers didn't seem to be aware of their "little" brother's heroics. When they first heard him speaking to some of the soldiers about Goliath and questioning what the reward was for killing him, they were outraged. Doesn't the following sound like an echo of how Joseph's brothers felt about him?
"Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." (1 Sam. 17:28)
God's Shaping for Crisis
David did not turn tail and run; the shaping God had given him in the hills with the sheep had turned him into a fearless warrior. We all know what he did to Goliath with the strength and skills God had let him develop while he was being shaped as a shepherd.
David's shaping continued during his time as a fugitive from King Saul. Again and again he and his men escaped the pursuing army of the king. An incident that shows off his character development is the time when he and his men hid deep in the recesses of
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a cave, only to have King Saul and his officers choose the same cave to rest in. David's guards came back to tell him that King Saul and his men were now deep in their sleep near the mouth of the cave. David's men told him: "This is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you' "(1 Samuel 24:4).
David crept toward the sleeping King Saul and cut off a corner of his robe. His men were obviously incensed that he had not taken the opportunity to plunge a sword into his enemy and kill him. But David insisted that he could not do that to "the Lord's anointed."
This is the man who became king of Israel after Saul was killed in battle. He led his troops in an assault on Jerusalem and made it his capital city. He was then about forty years old, and, like the kings of his day, he accumulated wives and concubines as part of his retinue. So he had ample opportunity to indulge his sexual desires within the framework of the law of the day.
Temptations of Success
God had blessed David richly, and he knew it. He had become a national hero, and he clearly basked in admiration. Success like that has built-in temptations that only those in the closest fellowship with God can handle. Although David had been shaped by God through truly difficult experiences for his role as king, he, like many who attain positions of leadership, had become a marred vessel.
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The pride generated by success is a powerful weapon of Satan. Power, even in Christian leadership positions, can dull us to the clear commands of God. In David's case he was at home enjoying the perks of power while his men were at war against the Philistines.
Walking about the roof of his palace one evening, David saw a beautiful woman bathing. He was extraordinarily excited by what he saw — and he clearly did not run from temptation. Instead, he inquired who she was. He discovered that she was the wife of a soldier in his army, a soldier currently engaging the Philistines in battle. Desire overcame discretion, and he invited her to his bedroom and slept with her, the disloyal wife of a loyal soldier. In that act of adultery, David became a marred vessel.
The campaign against the Philistines kept Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, at the front for weeks and weeks. Then Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant and sent a messenger to let David know of their problem. Like most who see the potential of exposure, David devised an elaborate cover-up. He called Uriah home from the battlefront, knowing that the average soldier would be extremely anxious to have sexual relations with his wife. Uriah came home, but refused to sleep with his wife; for he did not want privileges his fellow soldiers encamped in tents in the open field did not have.
Thwarted, King David devised Plan Two. He sent Commander Joab a letter, asking that Uriah be sent into the heat of the battle where he would be killed. Loyal soldier Joab carried out his king's request, and Uriah was killed. David waited until a decent mourning period had passed, and then took Bathsheba as his wife.
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God's Program for Restoration
How does God deal with a marred vessel? It's really tough for those of us raised on today's standards in the church to accept what God did to restore David. We routinely cast such vessels aside, convinced they have been irrevocably damaged. Only rarely will we make the effort to restore such a marred vessel.
The Master Potter, however, was not through with his marred vessel. He sent the prophet/teacher Nathan to King David. Jesus later recommended the same first step in Matthew 18:15 for Christians who have fallen into sin. Notice also how and what Nathan communicated to his king, again like Jesus' style of communication centuries later.
Instead of quoting chapter and verse from Exodus 20, and then hammering home the gravity of David's sin with other biblical passages, Nathan told a story:
"There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.
"And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." (2 Sam. 12: 1-4)
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The result? Notice the immediate response of the king after hearing the story: "So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity' " (2 Sam. 12:5-6).
Now Nathan makes his point: "You are the man!" In effect, Nathan is saying, "David, you are a marred vessel. God's corrective action involves serious consequences for your whole family. Everyone will suffer as a result of your sin. And one day your offspring will duplicate your sin — except they will do it with your wives."
Not a Private Sin
David learned that sexual sin is not private sin. It always draws in the whole family, with dreadful long-term consequences. But God does not toss the marred vessel aside. He begins the process of restoration immediately when David says, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan responds, "The LORD has also put away your sin; you shall not die." The immediate consequence, of course, was that David also lost the child conceived in adultery, a consequence all too common even today.
Was David's repentance genuine? Here's what David prays in Psalm 51:10-11
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
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Why A Story?
Great story, isn't it? But why did the prophet Nathan tell a story when faced with such obvious sin, with such a marred vessel? Because stories help us to see ourselves without destroying our dignity as individuals. Once we see ourselves we make our own application. This type of correction leads to repentance, instead of the anger and further rebellion that characterize much of our correction of sinners when we present them with the facts of God's law. Stories have healing qualities that hard-nosed facts about ourselves do not.
Marred vessels litter the Christian landscape today. Christian leaders God used powerfully for many years, whom He used as vessels to bring honor to Himself, have succumbed to the seduction of sexual temptation. Some of them were national leaders, with powerful media ministries. They discovered that even though the Master Potter had been effectively shaping them for many years, they were not on guard against a sneak attack by the enemy.
Panic, Peter, and Renewed Peace
The classic New Testament example of being marred but not broken is the apostle Peter. It is instructive to again consider how the Lord had been shaping this impetuous fisherman/businessman. Peter was so committed to Jesus, he so clearly understood what Jesus was all about, that he became one of the three in Jesus' inner circle.
Peter had seen Jesus heal his sick mother-in-law. He was with Him when Jesus raised the daughter of
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Jairus from the dead. When Elijah and Moses appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, Peter was one of the three who experienced it. He saw demons being expelled from people, five thousand or more fed with two loaves and three fish, the Lord's calming the storm on the sea. In fact, Peter had walked on the water in response to Jesus' invitation.
Peter was a hard-core convert — no waffling. He was so committed that he drew his sword and tried to kill a member of the Temple guard, cutting off his ear. He did not care who knew that he was a follower of Jesus.
Until, that is, Jesus was arrested and taken into the court of the high priest. Then all his bravado disappeared, and a scared Peter slipped into the courtyard of the high priest. He sat down with the small crowd around the blazing fire. When the leaping flames lit up Peter's face, a servant girl thought he looked familiar. She looked more closely and then said, "Hey, guys, this man was with Jesus." But Peter denied the association. What you do on the Mount of Transfiguration and what you do when identification with Jesus could mean imprisonment are two different things. If you've ever told a lie because someone backed you in a corner, you know what happened with Peter. He panicked and blurted out, "Woman, I don't know him." She backed off, and Peter nervously wiped his brow. Whew, that had been close!
Just when Peter thought he was home free another person recognized him and said accusingly, "You also are one of them."
What would you have done? Bolted? Hoped they would not catch you as you ran in to the darkness outside of the courtyard? Peter decided the best defense
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was to go on the offensive: "Man, I am not!" he exploded. Again the person backed off.
Time dragged by. Would they ever release Jesus? Why was it taking so long? An hour went by, when a third person told those around Peter, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."
If I had been Peter, I would have been gone this time. I mean, three times and you're out! I guess Peter figured bluffing had worked twice, so maybe it would work a third time.
"Man, I don't know what you are talking about!" he almost shouted.
A Wake-up Call
The cock's crowing accomplished what the three accusers had been unable to do — Peter got out as fast as he could. Peter remembered that Jesus had predicted that he would deny Him three times before the cock crowed.
But where do you go now that you've turned coat and denied three times that you had any association with Jesus? Well, first you repent; the Bible says that Peter wept bitterly. Then he rejoined the other disciples, knowing only too well that he was a marred vessel. It appears he kept his experience to himself, but the Master Potter knew.
When Jesus arose from the dead, the angel at the tomb told the women to go tell the disciples-and Peter. And when Jesus joined the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, Peter's net was just as full as that of that other fishermen. And it was Peter whom Jesus engaged in that wonderful interaction about "Do you love me?" Jesus clearly affirmed that Peter was back on the Master Potter's wheel when He said, "Feed my sheep."
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Maybe you have not been able to identify with either David's sin or Peter's denial of his Lord. But you've experienced another kind of marring, the kind that happens when you make a commitment to Jesus and then run scared and beat a hasty retreat. You suddenly realize you cannot lead the junior high Sunday school class — they are making hash of your efforts. Or you signed up for short-term service with a mission organization, only to panic when the insects and snakes appeared or when relationships with others in the group quickly deteriorated. You're a failure — marred for life.
John Mark, probably a close relative of Barnabas, had accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. What a privilege, I suspect he thought, as he saw God do miracles on the island of Cyprus. To be with these two giants of the faith must have been exciting. In fact, it apparently got too exciting, for we discover that John Mark turned tail and ran while they were in Pamphylia.
Impossibly marred, said Paul, when Barnabas wanted to take the young man with them on the second missionary expedition. Not so, said Barnabas. He should be given a second chance.
No way! emphasized Paul, pounding the table. He lost his chance. John Mark was branded a quitter.
Another Marred Vessel Restored
Barnabas and Paul agreed to disagree, and each went his separate way. Except that Barnabas took John Mark along to let God restore
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what had been marred — the courage of the young man. Barnabas the encourager clearly proved successful, for we read in Paul's Second Letter to Timothy, written toward the end of Paul's life: "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry" (2 Tim. 4:11).
The marred vessel had been restored. He was again fit for the Master Potter's use.
Marred, but not broken — if that's how you have been feeling, thank God that He can restore you. He can make the marred vessel beautiful and useful again because of His abundant mercy and grace. All we have to do is repent, seek His forgiveness, and move forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We've considered sliding from the wheel, as well as being marred while on the wheel of the Master Potter. What happens when we stay on and let the Master Potter do His shaping? We'll discuss that in the next chapter.
Reflecting on the Shaping
1. If you have had an experience that resulted in a break in your relationship with the Master Potter, what triggered it?
2. Based on the account of King David, tell how God responds when a person who is truly devoted to Him succumbs to temptation, then confesses.
3. What is it about David's repentance in Psalm 51 that made him again acceptable as a leader of Israel?
4. What are the steps a seriously marred Christian needs to take to be restored, for the marred vessel to be reshaped into something beautiful again, based on the examples of King David and the apostle Peter?
