If you have been a believer for a while, you know about God’s refinement process as He brings about the person and character He wants in us, the purity He desires. If not, then You will encounter it soon, as James warns us:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:2-5)
Trials are bound to come and, in all shapes, and sizes they will test us. Some are short, some are long, some we think we will never recover from, but they are all aimed at one thing: To finish the work of God which requires a perseverance in faith. And in that perseverance, to finish the work towards maturity, completeness, not lacking in anything that God desires. In short, the process of creating the character of Christ in you, a worthy bride for Jesus. And for this reason, we are to joy in the treasure that results from our many kinds of trials. Job, whose story most of us know, had an understanding of persevering in trial for a greater reason that just escaping the fire of the trial:
“But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)
But before you think God makes all the bad things happen to us, let me just remind you that trials and testing will happen naturally because we live in a broken world, plagued by sin. Add into the mix our own sinful heart (deeply devious in its own way) and living with sinful people (which we encounter everywhere) and the likelihood of things being a trial increase. Then add in an enemy who is out to steal from us, kill us and destroy us and that is the world we live in, of which Jesus said: “In this world you will have trouble…” (John 16:33)
God doesn’t have to make trials happen, they will happen naturally.
We as believers however, trust God each day to protect us, care for us, like a Father would a child. And He does, by His grace (what I deserve) and mercy (what I don’t deserve) which follow us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23), but still bad things will happen to us. Our natural inclination is to think that God has failed to take care of us like a good parent, Almighty God should, but in Romans 8:28-29 we are told:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
So despite being able to prevent all trials from coming to us, God in His wisdom “works for the good of those who love him” desiring that we be “conformed to the image of his Son.” In short, God allows trials so that He can work in us.
“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord tests the heart.” (Proverbs 17:3)
I often remind myself during a period of trial of two things:
Firstly, when God’s work in me, that which is being refined out of me during a trial, is complete… then the trial will end. The refiner takes the metal out of the fire and the process of refinement will immediately end. If it is not finished, He will place it back in the fire. This too, will end! Only when the Refiner has purified the metal until He sees His image reflected on the surface, He no longer needs to heat it. His work is complete. The fire is heated by God to test our hearts. During a trial our hidden motives come out, our wrong thinking, our bad attitudes, the lies we believe or the truth we don’t believe, all of this comes out in the fire. When the work is done, the fire ends.
Sin can so infiltrate our character, our heart and our mind, that nothing short of God’s refining fire can purge out these clumps of sin that trip us up and hold us captive again and again. All of us battle with the moral impurities in our character, and it is important to remember that the process is
Not Punitive, but Life Giving.
What God desires is good, good plans, good purposes. There are no shortcuts from the Refiners fire to a state of purity that reflects Jesus. It is ultimately a journey, a process we move through and the longer we persevere in the fire (allow it to finish its work) the more Christlike we become.
So, while you are in the Refiners fire (and you will know when you are there), know also that when the work of the Refiner is done, you will be taken out of the fire. The process does end eventually, and you will come forth as pure gold.
“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10)
The second thing I remind myself in a trial, is that :
It is not whether I survive my circumstances, it is whether my faith survives the circumstances.
Our faith needs to survive to receive from the Lord the hidden treasure in all the experiences that feel like a terrible life sentence that we have to live with. The hidden treasure my friend, is to discover that the image of God is reflected in this metal that has been purified. To see God create in us Christlike purity which we could never have done for ourselves.
Gods’ intention is not to destroy us, but to purify us.
Faith needs to focus on that, not the circumstances. The bible defines faith as the “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) Our faith focusses on the purity that we cannot see in ourselves, the redemption we cannot see, the restoration we cannot see and perseveres until we see that treasure that God is looking for.
In this, it is important to remember, that the Refiner never leaves the crucible unattended, the finished product HE longs for, demands this painful evolutionary process in us. He skims, cools, reheats and it looks like confession and forgiveness as we go. Our choice is always, do we in faith co-operate in the process, or do we resist and rebel against what the Refiner is doing in us.
Help me Lord, to stay in the process. Help me not to look for an escape from the fire of trial, but to persevere in faith until the work is completed in me. Help me to trust that as the Refiner of my heart, You know what You are doing, You will never abandon me in the fire, but will watch carefully so that the good You desire comes about. And when the work is done, You Yourself will restore me and bring me forth as gold.
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