”But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)
Trust God in the refining! Trust Him in the fire! Trust God in the process. He is preparing you for greater Kingdom purposes. .
Webster’s define refine as to become pure or perfected. The Hebrew word translated as refine is tsaraph, to “fuse.” The same word is rendered also “tried” “melt, or purged.
In the final stage of gold production — refining — involves removing impurities that remain after the smelting process. Borax and soda ash is added to the molten metal, which separates the pure gold from other precious and less precious metals.
Malachi 3:2 says, “But who can endure the day o f his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” It says that he is like a refiner’s fire. Not like a forest fire or like an incinerator’s fire that destroys and consumes completely. Verse 6 says, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” A refiner’s fire refines. It purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact.
Isaiah 48:10 says, “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.”
Proverbs 17:3 says, “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.”
Yield your heart to Him in the midst of the process. Don’t allow the enemy to tell you that the process you are going through is a sign of defeat. For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Our trials come to prove the genuineness of our faith which is of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire. The end result is to the praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1 6-7). After you have be tried and suffered for a little while in the process, the God of all grace will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10).
Sometimes in the midst of the process I feel like I’m “melting,” but I know that may faith is being tested for a greater glory that is yet to be revealed. This is not an easy process.This process of cutting away, stripping away, and pruning is not to harm you, but for your good and for a His glory. God wants to bring you to a deeper place of yieldedness and fruitfulness.
Don’t be surprised at the fiery trials when they come to test your faith as though something strange is happening to you. We are to rejoice and be glad knowing that God’s glory is being revealed through us. In the trial I have to rejoice and remind myself of God promises.
Blessings,
Dr. A.
BEYOND CHURCH WALLS 