The Secret Place

The Secret Place
Matthew 6:6

There are times when nobody understands my emotional turmoil. I try to verbalize to others the things that I’m struggling with and the things that tear at my heart and they just don’t quite get it!! It is in these moments that I am reminded of a place where I can lay at the feet of God naked… fully exposed … knowing that even if my words and actions don’t align with His, I can release my heaviness to Him and allow my wounds to be visible because He is the one who can heal and restore. I don’t have to worry about Him judging me because of my reactions and responses to my situations in my broken condition because he knows me the best. God will allow me to have my moment to rant and rave … scream and cry … grunt and moan if in that moment that’s what I “think” I need to do. He simply waits for me to release so that He can reveal those things that He wants me to know to take me to that new place in Him.

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:6 (KJV)

Matthew 6:6 likens our place of prayer to a closet. Why a closet and not some other room in the house? When I lived with my parents I shared a room with my brother and there were times where I wanted to study my Bible or just be alone and it was hard to do that in our bedroom because I was always interrupted. I eventually started going to the bathroom to have my private time with God and myself and even that wasn’t private enough because we only had 1 bathroom and at some point someone was going to have to use it and I would have to come out. After reading Matthew 6 where is says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet…” I became excited because it makes so much sense! The CLOSET!!! Why didn’t I think of that?!? It is the least likely place anyone would think to look for a person. The closet … that place where we store our clothes, shoes and other things we desire. The closet … that place that many sometimes refer to as the place our “skeletons are kept, you know, those things you don’t’ want anyone to know the truth about. The closet … that place that many come out of because they no longer want to pretend to be someone that they are not. Yep, the closet is a pretty good place to go. There is a “place,” whether that be physically or figuratively speaking that we should be able to go to to connect with God so that we can hear from Him. Nobody needs to know because this is “the secret place” where you and God can meet up and nobody would think to find you there.

I have heard people say that what you see on the outside is a result of what has happened and/or is happening on the inside. The end of verse 6 confirms this when it says,

“…and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

The secret… the thing that nobody knows or is aware of is that you know that it’s not about them and they can’t help you. The fact that we go to our secret place let’s God know that we know and understand that he is our source… He is the one who has the power to deliver us from the bondage of the enemy… He is the one who can heal our wounds … He is the only one who TRULY understands us … He is the one who knows every detail of our beginning, middle and end. When God sees us placing our faith and trust in Him by meeting Him in the secret place, He ministers to us in that place and allows others to witness the outward transformation of a life that simply took advantage of connecting with God in the secret place.

© Copyright LaTrisha E. Milton October 21, 2008

The Potter,His Hand and the Vessel

The Potter, His Hand & the Vessel
Jeremiah 18:1-6

No, I am not perfect… there are times that I would much rather not deal with others, you know, that other part of God’s creation that I am commanded to love the way God loves me. I have days that are lower than other days… days that I feel I have failed more than others because I have REALLY not done my best , no matter what others may think, feel, or see… days that I want to be mad and stay mad… day where I want to be sad and stay sad… days where I want to make others feel bad because I feel bad … days where I want to stop talking to others in order to make some sense of my own personal chaotic internal issues… moments where I am quiet because I am waiting to hear God for myself through the frustrations, struggles, and hard to understand times of life. I don’t know if anyone understands what this is like but these are the moments when I believe God tells me to go down to the potter’s house …

“The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the Potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the Potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:1-6 (KJV)

This scripture is one that I have heard mentioned in some way from time to time in my life but never has it been more real to me than now. The potter is the creator of the vessel and it is at the potter’s house that the creation of the vessel begins and ends. The potter knows what the ingredients are that make up its creation and he knows what it’s supposed to look like in the end, Why? Because it is HIS creation. Jeremiah witnessed first hand the potter at work.

Verse 4 tells us that the vessel that was made “was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again.” This verse points out the fact that when the potter looked at his creation he was not happy with it because to HIM, the creator, there was an obvious imperfection … the creation was a little too impatient… a lot too stubborn… not faithful enough… stayed depressed too long…etc. Because of the imperfections he decided to make it again as another vessel that was pleasing to him. He used the same clay … he just remade it into something else.

After the Lord let Jeremiah see this he explains to Jeremiah that just like the clay was in the hand of the Potter he would do the same thing for the house of Israel. The message is a simple one yet very powerful. The potter… the creator, is the only one who knows what the end result of the creation is supposed to look like. HIS hands create it because it is HIS hands that are designed to create it into what he sees it to be. Even though the clay never screams, kicks, or hollers, this does not mean that process is not a difficult one, after all the potter did take the vessel and make it into something else which requires reshaping… discomfort and PAIN, but throughout the entire process the clay never left the HAND of the one who had the ability to make it into something of use.

This writing at this moment is more for me than for those that read it, but if by chance someone reads this, God wants us to be encouraged in knowing that as our Potter… our Creator, he is the ONLY one who has the ability or desire to shape us and mold us into what he desires for us to become. As we go through our difficult and painful moments we should find comfort in knowing that in these moments we are as the vessel that was marred in Jeremiah 18 that the potter put back on the wheel (Thank GOD he didn’t just throw it away) to make it into another vessel … “as seemed good to the potter to make it.”

© Copyright LaTrisha E. Milton October 16, 2008