“The
crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.” Proverbs 17:3
The temperature for refining both silver and
gold is roughly 1000 degrees Celsius.
The refining process is used to draw all the impurities in the metal to
the surface so it can be skimmed off the top.
The impurities are called “dross”.
They are disposed of because they have no worth. You, on the other hand, are of great
worth. How does one know their
worth? God created you. You meant enough to Him to send His Son to
die in your place.
Why do we as Christians have to go through trials in our
life? Like the intense temperature used to refine precious metals trials are
meant to refine our faith. God is always
watching. Everything done is for our ultimate benefit and not at all to harm
us. As our faith is stretched and molded
we start to become what God knows we can be in
Him. It’s a lifelong process that can be
a little painful at times, but lessons need to be learned. Following the pattern for living set forth in
scripture requires deliberate action on our part. Not being perfect we will undoubtedly have
times when our spiritual growth plateaus and we stagnate just a bit. God
understands us better than we do ourselves and knows the how and why for our
thoughts, words and actions. He
understands that we struggle against a world that would have us ignore the Lord
and come out to play. At times we go
AWOL* from our faith as we stop going to church or allow a traumatic event in
our life to temporarily cripple our growth.
God is watching. He patiently and
lovingly draws us back to the path He has chosen for us. He never gives up on us. He knows our heart. He can read our motivations. He knows why we are the way we are, because
He made us.
So the next time you go through a trial of some sort, know
that it is by design and praise God that He cares enough about you to mold you
into all you can be in this life. He
loves you and will never fail you. Until
next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!
