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Upside Down


Upside down - the common definition is to position in such a way that the upper and the lower parts are reversed in position.  But it can also mean in or into great disorder.

When I recently read Isaiah 29:16, I was struck by an “upside down”:

You turn things upside down!  Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? (NIV)

It seems so obvious, but the potter is not the clay and the clay is not the potter.  If they were, that would be a major and inappropriate reversal of position and the result would be an upside down, big time!

Furthermore, the normal order is that the clay is in the hands of the potter and the potter shapes it as he wishes.  The clay shouldn’t question the potter or assume the potter doesn’t know what he is doing.  Those just throw things into great disorder

While that is all fine and good to get things in the right order and have things no longer upside down, the verse really does have significant implications for us.  We are the clay and God is the potter.  To say that He did not make us, throws things into great disorder. 

In addition, He works and shapes us into what He desires for us.  But all too frequently, we try to tell Him how to fashion and shape us.  When we do, we run the risk of telling Him that He really doesn’t know what He is doing.

Either one, my friends, is very disorderly and/or absolutely upside down and are certainly not good positions to be in!

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