The writer Isaiah was addressing a group of people who did not like the potential outcome of their circumstances. In their reaction to God, they reversed things. They viewed things upside down. Dissatisfied people had charged God with possessing merely human capabilities.

Isaiah made a significant point. Does the potter have no more understanding than the clay? He could have asked, “Is a brick equal to the bricklayer? Does a floor board have the capabilities of the carpenter?” His illustration is sort of comical, but pointed.

A group of NFL players and their wives were studying a Bible study series that examined the unexpected ways that God works. Week after week, each study demonstrated that God works in ways that we do not understand.

At the close of a particular study, one of the wives blurted out, “If God is so wise, why does He make life so hard?”

In time, this wife and her husband experienced the answer to her question — God used the hard times in their early years to prepare them for harder times in later years. Several years later this couple faced a critical health issue with one of their children. God had prepared them well.

What they learned about God in normally hard times, enabled them to trust Him during a major crisis.

God does understand our circumstances.

God is sovereign, meaning He can do whatever He wants to do. God knows what we need in order to grow and mature, and He will orchestrate circumstances in our lives to bring it about. He can be trusted because of His flawless character: He is always good, wise, all-knowing and righteous.

A wise teacher said, “We fail to see the blessings that arrive dressed in the rags of a curse.” (Ron Dunn)