The Potter and His Purposes Text: Proverbs 16:4
Introduction: The Hard Sayings
There are certain verses in Scripture that function like a continental divide. Depending on which way you go with them, you will end up in a completely different theological watershed, looking at a completely different landscape. These are the hard sayings, the verses that refuse to be tamed by our sentimentalities or domesticated by our desire for a God who is manageable, safe, and entirely non-controversial. Our modern evangelical sensibilities often want a God who is powerful enough to save us, but not so powerful that He might have purposes that run contrary to our own sense of what is fair and decent.
Proverbs 16:4 is one of those verses. It is a granite rock against which many softer theologies are shipwrecked. It refuses to budge. It states a profound and, for many, a disturbing truth about the absolute and all-encompassing sovereignty of God. It tells us that nothing in all creation is without a divine purpose. Nothing is random, nothing is accidental, and nothing, not even the existence of wickedness, falls outside the scope of God's eternal plan.
We live in an age that is allergic to this kind of robust sovereignty. We want to put God in the dock. We want to cross-examine Him. We want to hold Him accountable to our standards of justice. But the Bible will have none of it. It presents God not as a defendant in the court of human opinion, but as the judge of all the earth who will, by definition, do right. The question is not whether God's actions measure up to our standards, but whether our thinking measures up to His revelation.
This verse forces us to confront the reality of the Creator/creature distinction. God is the potter, we are the clay. The potter has absolute rights over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. To deny this is to fundamentally misunderstand who God is and what it means for us to be creatures. This is not a truth to be feared, but a truth to be embraced, for in it lies the very foundation of our comfort and our hope. A God who is not sovereign over all things is a God who is sovereign over nothing, and such a God is no God at all.
The Text
Yahweh has made everything for its own purpose,
Even the wicked for the day of evil.
(Proverbs 16:4)
God's Universal Lordship
The first clause of this proverb establishes a universal principle that is the bedrock of a Christian worldview.
"Yahweh has made everything for its own purpose..."
The name used for God here is Yahweh, the covenant name of God. This is personal. This is the God who enters into relationship with His people. And it is this personal, covenant-keeping God who is the ultimate "why" behind every "what." Everything that exists, from the grandest galaxy down to the smallest subatomic particle, from the mightiest king to the most despised sinner, has been made by God and has a purpose assigned to it by God. The word for "purpose" here can also be translated as "its answer." Everything God has made is an answer to a question He is asking. Everything serves to reveal something about Him.
This is a direct assault on the foundational assumptions of our secular age. The secularist believes the universe is a cosmic accident, a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. There is no ultimate purpose, no grand design. We are simply the result of blind, pitiless indifference. But Scripture says otherwise. The universe is dripping with telos, with purpose, because it was spoken into existence by a purposeful God. God does not do random. He does not waste motion. Every star, every stone, every soul is part of His intricate design.
This means that history is not a random series of events; it is a story with an author, and that author is God. He is working all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). This is the foundation of all Christian hope. Our lives are not meaningless. Our sufferings are not pointless. Our work is not in vain. Because the sovereign God has a purpose for all of it, and His purpose is always good, always wise, and always for His glory.
The Difficult Application
The second clause of the verse takes this universal principle and applies it to the most difficult and troubling aspect of reality: the existence of evil.
"...Even the wicked for the day of evil."
This is where the rubber meets the road. It is one thing to say that God has a purpose for the sunrise and the mountains. It is quite another to say that He has a purpose for Judas Iscariot, for Pontius Pilate, for the wicked who crucified the Lord of glory. But this is precisely what the Bible teaches. God has "made" the wicked for the day of evil. This does not mean that God is the author of sin or that He forces men to be wicked against their will. The Bible is clear that God is not tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone (James 1:13). Men sin because they are sinners; they choose evil because they love the darkness.
So what does this mean? It means that God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty, ordains the existence of wicked men and their wicked actions, and He incorporates them into His perfect plan for a specific end. That end is the "day of evil," which refers to the day of judgment and calamity. The wicked are not an unforeseen problem that God has to clean up. They are part of the plan. Their wickedness serves to display God's justice, His wrath against sin, and His holiness. Pharaoh is the classic example. God tells Moses, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth" (Romans 9:17). God did not make Pharaoh sin, but He did raise him to the throne of Egypt, knowing his proud and rebellious heart, and He hardened that heart in its rebellion in order to display His own glory in the deliverance of Israel.
This is a hard teaching, but it is glorious. It means that evil is never ultimate. It is never outside of God's control. Even the most horrific acts of wickedness are, in the hands of a sovereign God, being woven into the tapestry of His ultimate purpose. The greatest evil ever committed was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The apostles declared that Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel did what God's "hand and His plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:28). Their wicked intentions were harnessed by God to accomplish the greatest good: the salvation of the world. God draws straight with crooked lines.
Conclusion: A God Worthy of Worship
So what do we do with a verse like this? First, we must bow in worship. This is a high and holy doctrine. It reveals a God who is infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and utterly sovereign. This is not a tame God, but He is a good God. His purposes are perfect, even when we cannot understand them. We must resist the temptation to trim God down to a size that fits our finite understanding. We are to trust Him, not psychoanalyze Him.
Second, we must find our comfort here. If God is not sovereign over the wicked, then we have no ultimate security. If evil is a rogue force that God is merely reacting to, then we have no guarantee that good will triumph in the end. But because God has made even the wicked for His purpose, we know that nothing can thwart His plan. The schemes of wicked men, the rise and fall of nations, the persecution of the church, all of it is held in the palm of His hand. He is not wringing His hands in heaven over the state of the world. He is ruling it.
Finally, this truth should fuel our evangelism. The fact that God has ordained the day of evil for the wicked should fill us with a holy urgency to proclaim the gospel. The day of judgment is real. The wrath of God against sin is not a metaphor. But there is a way of escape. Christ died for sinners. He took the wrath that we deserved. And God commands all men everywhere to repent and believe. The same God who ordained the end has also ordained the means. He has ordained that through the foolishness of the message preached, those who believe will be saved. Therefore, let us not be ashamed of the hard truths of Scripture, but let us proclaim the whole counsel of God, knowing that our God reigns, and His purposes will stand.