Tried in the Fire

Although this was written several years ago, I feel that it is still very relevant today.

For some, 2008 was a year of ups and downs.  I can remember at the end of 2007 everyone declaring 2008 as the year of change and prosperity.  But as we prepare to ring in 2009, we look at 2008 and see little prosperity and what change we had seemed to be a change for the worse.  Companies that have been around for decades and some even over a century had to close their doors.  Unemployment hit record levels and people lost their homes due to foreclosure at alarming rates.  Some people lost everything they had – saved and unsaved alike.  In situations like this, people start to question God.  How could He let this happen?  Is even still here?

A while back I got an e-mail that really put all of this in perspective for me so I will share it with you today.  One day a group of women were in a bible study class and came across a verse that left them puzzled.  The verse was Malachi 3:3. It read, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”  Not fully understanding the meaning of this verse, one woman took it upon herself to dig a little deeper.  The next day she called a silversmith and made an appointment with him so that she could observe the process of refining silver.  As she looked on, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.  He explained to her that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all of the impurities.  The woman asked the man if it was true that he had to sit there the entire time the silver was in the fire.  His response was yes and not only did he have to sit holding the silver, but he also had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire.  If the silver was left in the fire for a moment too long, it would be destroyed by the flames.  The woman sat silent for a minute, then asked, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”  The silversmith smiled at her and answered, “When I see my image in it.”

Some of you may feel like you are in the fire right now.  You may have lost your home or your job, your marriage may be falling apart, or every time you try to take a step forward you get knocked ten steps back.  Well, there is a message in this story for you.  God is sitting as a refiner and purifier of silver.  And if you don’t know what it means to refine something, let me tell you.  It means to make something better, to make it more effective.  You may think things are being taken away from you, but the truth is God is only melting away the impurities so that He can see His image in you and so that He can be glorified through you.  You may have lost your house due to foreclosure, but God said take shelter in Him.  You may have lost your job and are wondering how you are going to pay your bills, but God said trust in Him.  He is Jehovah Jireh, your provider.  By taking away our trust and dependency on earthly things, God is molding, reshaping, renewing, and strengthening our trust and faith in Him so that when you come out of the fire (and you will come out), you will be more effective in your witness of Christ Jesus.  You will be able to help someone else; because how many of you know that your struggle is not even about you? When you see someone struggling you can tell them that God is there and that He sees what they are going through and that the situation is only temporary.  They’ll ask you, “How do you know?” And you can say with confidence, “I know, because He has done it for me!”

The bible tells us in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 that there is a time and purpose for everything under the sun.  Sometimes we don’t learn the reason until after the season has passed but nonetheless, I assure you that God has a purpose for everything you are going through.  Sometimes the Lord takes things away to make room for something even better.  Sometimes He has to break us down just to get our attention.  We get so caught up in habit and tradition that we forget to get caught up in the Holy Spirit.  God has plans for us but sometimes we miss those plans because we are so wrapped up in the plans that we have for ourselves.  But then there are times when we are on track, we do spend our time in worship, we seek God constantly, and we are obedient to His word, yet we still find ourselves being tried in the fire.  But saints, even still, know that God has a purpose for this season.  Because even though you were good before, God can make you better and even though you were strong before, watch out, because God can make you stronger.  We can be thankful that a season is just that.  It only lasts a season, it is only a period of time and does not last forever.  A poet put it this way:

            “Just as winter turns to spring

           Our lives have changing seasons too

            So when a gloomy forecast comes

            Remember – God has plans for you.”

And the plans He has for you are for your benefit.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you.  Plans to prosper you and not harm you, to give you hope and a future.”  Don’t be discouraged that you are in the fire right now.  Although your circumstance says one thing, the word of God says this in Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”  The Message translation puts it like this, “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.”  God has a purpose and a plan for every trial and adverse situation that you are going through today.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”  Reading through verses 2 through 8 we see that there is a time for good just like there is a time for the not so good. (I say not so good because even though we are in the fire, we still have much to be thankful for.)  Look at the order of the words in verses 3 and 4.  We see that breaking down comes before building up, that weeping comes before laughter, that mourning comes before dancing.  Just looking at the text alone, we see that sometimes, the bad has to come before the good.  So when we see that things are not so good, we can rejoice in knowing that the time for good is coming.  You may be weeping right now, but you can still rejoice because the time to laugh is coming.  You may be mourning right now, but you can rejoice because the time to dance is on its way.  You may be losing now and feel like you have nothing left to lose, but praise God, because His word tells us that there is a time to gain.

However, just because we know that God has a time and purpose for everything, doesn’t mean we are just supposed to sit idle, waiting for change.  While the refiner holds us in the fire, there are things that He expects from us and desires for us to do.  In Joel 2:12, God says, “Turn to me now, while there is time! Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”  God uses many of our problems and situations to humble us as part of our growth as Christians.  Being in the fire puts us in a place where we can hear Him and change our direction.  It takes away the distractions that life puts in front of us so that we can truly seek Him with our whole hearts.  God wants pure worship from us and sometimes our sacrifices get a little dusty as time goes on.  That’s why He will put us back in the fire.  He says rend your heart and not your garment. He doesn’t want our material possessions or worldly offerings.  He wants us.  Just us.  Sometimes He will take everything else away so that all we have to give Him is ourselves.  Come with fasting He says, to destroy the will of the flesh.  Come with weeping to break down the outer image (in other words pride).  Come with mourning to bring about passion for change.

Tried in the fire.  While we are in the fire, something has to change.  Just as in the story of the silversmith, you won’t come out of the fire until His image is seen in you.  Don’t let doubt, fear, anger, depression, pride, lust, and so many other sins cloud the image of God that is in you.  Leave all of those things in the fire that you may come out pure as refined silver.  But this is something we can’t do on our own.  Because if we could, those things never would have gotten in the way in the first place.  The only way to make it out of the fire, is through Jesus Christ our redeemer.  With His blood, He washes away all of those sins so that the image of God can be seen in us.

“Being Small”

In a nation where everyone wants to make it big, we have to remember to not allow our successes to overshadow the One who brings about the success.  For the last few days, I have had the Jimmy Needham song “Being Small” stuck in my head.  The lyrics replay over and over through my mind reminding me why I am here on this earth.  It’s not to be successful, or to be well-known, or well-liked.  My purpose is to glorify God.

The words of the song say, “Whenever I climb too high, keep my feet on the ground. And if I get full of me, turn me upside down.”  I love these lyrics because they are a timely reminder that my life is not about me.  Right now, I’m in my late-twenties and I have had a great life that is destined to get better.  I purchased my house at the age of 22, I completed my MBA by 25, and I have a promising career at one of the largest private firms in the country.  Most of all I am married to a wonderful man and have a beautiful baby girl.  But I can’t take the credit for any of my achievements.  It is only by God’s grace and favor that I am where I am today.  Thinking that I did it all on my own would only set me up for eminent failure in the long run because God will make it so that no flesh should glory in His presence.  But if I point to Him as the key to my success, not only will He be glorified, there is blessing in it for me too.

My favorite line of the song is “You know pride and not just summer come before the fall, so if it’s you that’s getting bigger I don’t mind being small.”  If I allow pride to puff me up, everything I stand on will crumble because there is no solid foundation to support me.  The bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. If I allow Him to get the glory, I know he will hold me up through every situation, both good and bad.  In the words of John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  I have to get out of the way so that the world won’t see me, but so they can see the Savior.

“Walking the Walk” (Part 3)

I saw a quote that really spoke to me.  It said, “Every saint has a past and every sinner has as future.”  I believe that the past of a saint is the link to the future of the sinner.  If we would use what we’ve been through to help someone else along the way the kingdom of God would see some serious growth.  But instead we are so ashamed of our pasts that we don’t want other people to know about the things we used to do.  The truth is we have nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of.  We talk our talk saying if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature but we don’t live it.  If the old things truly are passed away why do we allow the devil to continue to hang them over our head?  I struggled in my sin for several years because I thought that I was the only one dealing with it.  That was because my church was so saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Spirit that I felt like I would be looked down on because of my sins.  If I would have heard someone say to me, I used to be like that but God delivered me, I would have had some hope.  I would have saw early on that I couldn’t fix my problems on my own.  But because I only saw perfect people (or at least people pretending to be perfect) I joined the ranks and started pretending too.  But I thank God today that now I know that I don’t have to pretend to be perfect.  I don’t even have to be perfect because there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.  I don’t have to condemn myself for the sins of my past but I can rejoice because God has delivered me.  I can be a testimony to someone else that God can deliver them just like He did for me.

People of God we have to start walking in the light.  You can talk the talk all day long but at the end of the day what is the result?  You might as well walk in the light today because what is done in the darkness will come to light anyway.  How much better is it to stumble and fall and have someone there to help you back up than to keep falling deeper and deeper into your sin?  We have to start walking the walk that we claim to walk.  Walking with Christ isn’t easy. But it is very necessary in order to lead other people to him.

Let’s lead by example.  The word tells us that there is one God and Father of all who is above all, and through all, and in all.  So when trials come our way, let’s not only say that God is above my problems let’s act like it.  Let’s walk in faith, believing that He will provide every need when the money has run out, let’s believe that He is the God above every sickness and is not only able to heal, but He will heal.   Let’s take God at His word when He says that if we confess our sins that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  Let’s believe that if He cleanses us, then we are clean.  We don’t have to beat ourselves up for the things we’ve done wrong, we can believe that all is forgiven and on top of that, He won’t even remember it.  The talk we talk should be complemented and fulfilled by the walk we walk.

It’s good to share the word of God with people but showing them how God has acted on that word in your life will have an even better effect.  And in order for God to act out the word in your life you have to first walk to the walk. God said that if you obey me, then you will be blessed in the city and in the field, in your coming and your going.  You will be the head and not the tail, the lender and not the borrower.  He said if you delight yourself in Him, then He would grant the desires of your heart.  Walk the walk so that people can follow you into their blessings.  Jesus walked the walk for us and because we follow Him we can walk into our salvation.  I thank God that Jesus did more than talk about what we should be doing.  I’m glad He did more than talk about what He was supposed to do.  Jesus walked in obedience to God the Father all the way to Calvary’s cross. And because of Him we are no longer bound by our sin.  We no longer have to walk around with our heads down ashamed of our pasts, and even our present.  I’m glad that Jesus walked the walk. I’m glad that His actions spoke louder than His words.  His act of dying on the cross showed me that He loves me more than I love myself.  He died for me. I don’t even know if I would die for me.  So we thank Him and praise Him because through His death we can have new life.  We can start over.  No matter who we are, no matter what we’ve done, no matter where we are in life.  We can have new life in Jesus Christ and walk with Him.