Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I
have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Times are tough, there is little doubt about that.
People are hurting, and they are feeling alone. I hear, now more than ever, the
one question that resonates. Why? Why me, why now, why does it have to be hard,
why can’t it just come easy? When I hear that question, I often think of this
verse. I talked to a fella that works with various metals, and I asked him just
what it means to “purify” silver. He told me that if you purify it, you have
taken all of the slag out. The junk, the stuff that is just filler, and fluff,
but not silver. When you get all of that out, then you have purified the
silver. I asked him just how he goes about doing that. He told me that you put
the silver in a smelter, and crank up the heat, as the silver gets hotter, it
pushes out the impurities, and they rise to the top. He then takes a tool and
pulls the slag off the top. He continues to add heat and pull off the slag. I
asked him how he knew when he got all of the slag out. was there a temperature
that must be reached, was it a specific time that it had to be done for, just how
do you know. His answer pretty much sums
up what the Lord is telling us here. The man looked at me and said “I know when
I am down to pure silver because when I look into the smelter, I see my
reflection”. Wow, with enough heat, and enough time spent pulling the junk out he
can see his reflection.
That my friends is what the Lord is doing. Now as
it is pointed out we are not put through the same fire as silver. Humans don’t
keep well when exposed to high heat. However we have a different furnace. It is
the furnace of affliction. Yeah, I know…..no one likes to hear about the
furnace of affliction. I do not particularly like it myself. It is hot, it is
uncomfortable, and typically I end up losing some stuff that I was fairly sure I
needed. However, in the end, when the Lord gets all of our slag out, guess what?
He can see Himself. Now that is worth the work; and knowing that God is working
to get all of the junk out of us, should also remind us that we are not alone.
The Lord is standing over that furnace, pulling out the slag as it comes to the
top. Have you ever stood over a furnace, or smelter? Have you ever splashed a
little slag onto you while pulling it off the top? It is not easy work. It
takes time, it takes sacrifice, and it takes having to put up with a little
pain. Yet there the Lord is, diligently working to get the slag out.
I often think how frustrated God must be with me
sometimes. I can just see Him, standing over the furnace of my life, sifting
out the slag….almost done, getting clear, starting to shimmer….then bam! Another
round of slag pushes up to the top. I can almost hear Him exclaim “good night!
How much junk does this guy have to burn out?” Really? More? Yet He does not
tire. He does not throw up His arms, and say just forget it, let’s pour this one
out, and get a new one. No, He does not. He patiently stands over the furnace,
waiting for the next round. Knowing that as long as I am willing to put in the
work, sooner or later, that last bit of slag will float up to the top, and he
will pull it off to reveal His reflection. He will look at me, and see Himself,
He will look at my heart, and see the heart of His Son. At that moment, both
the Lord, and I will know that every hardship, every bit of pain, grief,
turmoil, disappointment, and every set back, was needed to bring me to this
moment.
Take heart, and stand fast, this current season
of pain, will give way to a season of joy. The pain will turn to happiness, and
the disappointment, will turn to elation. You are simply in the process of
pushing out some slag, and make no mistake about it….the Lord is right there
ready to snatch it up, looking to see how much of Himself he can see in the
reflection.
God
Bless,
Brian
Thetford
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About Brian Thetford
I am merely what God has created, a person who is here to help with his plan, a cog in the wheel of life. That is where I find my worth, not in what I do for a living, or what I have accomplished in life, but what I have done that extends the Lord’s plan and expands his will, that being said, this is a little about me.I am a husband to a wonderful wife for the last 17 years. I have two outstanding daughters who help keep my heart soft, and young. For a living I am the Logistics Director for a foodservice company. For my love, I write about and minister on behalf of the Lord. It is here that I find my peace, purpose, and balance. I spend a lot of my free time, writing, reading, studying, or talking about the Lord and his teachings. I am working on starting a church in Leander, TX and if the Lord is willing it will be the beginning of a great journey. The rest of the free time goes to my family. As a result, I do not know what the score was for the latest game, no matter the sport, and I really do not care what Brittany Spears did yesterday. Some call me boring. I like to think of it as focused on what is important, my God, and my family.I believe that the Lord has intertwined all of the above into the perfect life for me, a balance of reality, fun, sorrow, and spiritual awakening. I find that for me, the journey is not about going up the road and trying to find the end; it is more about heading back down and helping others get past the same obstacles that I had to get around. I spent the first thirty years of my life on the run, usually in the wrong direction; I will spend the balance on my journey home, picking up as many as I can that are as lost as I was, doubling back when I hear a cry for help.
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