"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter, and we all the work of your hand"

"Behold, as the clay is on the potter's hand, so are you in my hand"

"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"

We all start out as "earth,  without form, and void" until the Master Potter gets his hands on us. But lots of water is needed to keep us soft enough that he may shape us - by his own hands into the vessels he desires us to be. Humility  is the water that keeps the clay of our hearts soft and pliable  - and our tears, mixed with his own.

If we harden our hearts we can never become who he made us to be. We can never be remade in his image.  

If we're too hard, we must be shattered into a thousand tiny pieces  - then thrown in the fire of affliction  till we're melted again,  and able to be reshaped again.