Today’s Reading: Job 1:13-22
Job 23:10 — But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
God promises to refine us. To refine gold, you must use heat from a fire. The heat will melt the gold and cause any impurities to separate from the gold so they can be removed by the refiner. Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) and He is also the great refiner of our souls.
Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1), but he was not absolutely perfect. Job had his faults and weaknesses and blind spots just like all of us. In the fiery trial, Job did quite well, but he still ended up repenting for some of the things he had thought and said.
God forbid that all of the calamities of Job should visit you all at once like Job experienced, but we can expect God to “try” us, to allow us to go through the fire of a trial now and then to bring impurities in our hearts and souls to light so we can take them to the cross and let them be crucified.
Jesus learned things as a Son through suffering (Hebrews 5:8) and He became our perfect heavenly High Priest who intercedes for us. Our sufferings also are designed to prepare us for some purpose the Lord has in mind for us. We sometimes suffer because of bad choices, but other times suffering is undeserved, yet purposeful in God’s refining and preparation process.
God knows the way that we take. He knows the way we are going. If it isn’t the right way, God will do a little course correction so that we can walk on His streets of pure gold with pure hearts. Our God is a consuming fire and He’s right there in the furnace with us as the fourth man of Daniel 3:25, setting us free!
コメント