THE REFINER’S FIRE!

‘Fire Assay’ by Graela licensed under CC BY NC-SA 2.0

The first time I cast bronze at Oral Roberts University as part of their studio art program my students and I skimmed the dross off the metal and the molten bronze glowed golden like the rays of the sun! We were awestruck! It reminded us of the scripture in Revelation where Paul described what he saw in heaven.  In his description of God, he said that ‘His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.’  Revelation 1:15.                                                               

When you heat metals to their melting point, the impurities float to the top!  What an amazing natural phenomenon! These impurities (dross) are then skimmed off with a tool so that the metal will be pure.

Pure molten metal is beautiful to behold and is of much greater value!

It says in Malachi 3:2-3 that God is like a ‘refiners’ fire.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.  He says this in reference to the Levites whom He will purify and refine like gold and silver.

Is this natural phenomenon telling us that God wants to purify us….that He will allow us to be heated, perhaps to our melting point by trials and tribulations so that He can then skim off our impurities, make us beautiful by purifying us so we can be of increasing value to God and each other, helping us to become all we can be in Christ? 

Speaking of going through the refiner’s fire!!!  Have you ever read the book of Job?  He recognized the value of his testing.  He said, ‘But God knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.’  Job 23:10.  

I believe the book of Job is included in the bible to help us know how to face our own trials and tribulations.  To my knowledge, no one has ever suffered like Job, yet he did not curse God, rather he used his time of suffering to learn more about God and his own sinfulness.

He was a rich man who lost most of what he had, including some of his children and was covered with boils.  How bad can it get. It makes my trials and tribulation pale in comparison! Even his wife said to him, ‘Curse God and die!  Job 1:9.  He did not.  
Rather, in the midst of his suffering, he said, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!’  
Job 13:15.  And made one of the most powerful statements in all of the scriptures!  He said in Job 19:25, ‘I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth.’       

He understood the meaning of the scripture found in the Proverbs:  ‘My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son He delights in.’ Proverbs 3:11-12.  And did exactly what we are admonished to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.  ‘Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus!’

He acknowledged who God was and his own sinfulness.  He said in Job 13:23, ‘How many wrongs and sins have I committed?  Show me my offense and my sin.’  This is in keeping with the scripture in Proverbs 139:23-24.  ‘Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.’ 

As the book of Job progresses, Job moves from having heard of God to having seen Him!‘
‘My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.’  And the end result was REPENTANCE!  ‘Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”  Job 42:5-6.

In the end, God was pleased with Job and ‘restored his fortunes, gave him twice as much as he had before and blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.’  
Job 42:10, 12.

Aren’t the trials and tribulations, the refiner’s fire administered to us by a loving father meant as it did to Job, to bring us to repentance and a true trust that in the end of our trials and tribulations God will restore us and bless us even more than before?

Knowing that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’  Romans 8:28.  

Are you willing to submit yourself to the refiner’s fire? 

If you are, pray this prayer, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, (and skim it off) And lead me in the way everlasting.  Psalm 139:23-24

And remember Psalm 30:5.

                           ‘WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR A NIGHT,

                              BUT JOY COMES IN THE MORNING.’