"See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction" - Isaiah 48:10 (NIV).
Gold is easily the most valued and precious metal on earth. Throughout centuries it has served as money and a symbol of power. Objects laced with gold like jewelry are considered to be of the highest value.
One of the curious aspect about gold is that before being mined it is just as ordinary as any metal, with hardly any visible attraction. Gold pits are but ugly mounds of mud which those not aware of its value could easily ignore. However, once mined, the gold goes through a process of refining where all the impurities are removed through intense heating. Then we get the pure gold we all idolise.
Every life is in itself gold. However, just as with gold, every life is filled with impurities, for no one has been created prefect except the Lord Jesus. To make use of any life God must remove the impurities in our lives through a process of refining. Adverse circumstances while not cherished are often a process to make us shine as gold. For instance, when someone who was all puffed up with himself and swelling with pride goes through trials, God may be using such to bring him to his knees so that he starts depending absolutely on God.
Which is all to say whenever you are going through a rough patch do not see this as a sign of abandonment from God. For as the Apostle Peter wrote, the "proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, sometimes life's trials is one way of bringing us closer to you, and so help me accept accept with grace the process of purification in my life to bring me closer to you, this I pray in Jesus's name!
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
