God Tries us with Fire to Refine us and Remove what does not belong in Us—R Fritz
When we chose Jesus, we made a decision to follow him and gave our lives to him. That decision was the most important decision in our life. God accepts us the way we are with all our faults. We should want to study and find out who God is. God wants us to be like him, righteous, pure specimens. God tests us to remove what needs to go in our personality, thoughts, or unrighteousness. God lets different things happen to us to change us. God turns up the fire with Satan getting involved to stretch our faith. Malachi 3:2-3 says “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” These verses talk about Jesus coming and being the refiner.
A story I heard about a woman asking a silversmith how he purified silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, you need to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot and thinking about Malachi 3:3. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The silversmith answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eye on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” The silversmith smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy, when I see my image in it”
When God sees his image in us, he knows we are fully refined. It is the heat of life that purifies us. In refining silver, the waste melted off is called dross. We have to decide if we will let God purify us and remove the dross from our life. He wants to purify us from the inside out. Some silver has impurities that cannot be removed with fire. That silver is rejected by the refiner unable to be purified. Those that refuse to be tried in fire choose to keep their dross (sin or impurities). They may look on the outside to be real followers by their actions but choose to disobey. It is also the Holy Spirit that decides when and how that refining process happens in our life.
The inside of us is where God chooses to start with change. We cannot judge people what we see on the outside, that is the dross (impurities) we see as we are being refined. Change starts on the inside in our hearts and mind. The things that have happened to us have affected how we see things and how we communicate and interact with people. The things that have happened to us need to be refined for us to be able to teach about God and his “love.” It is understanding that love that changes us into being like God knowing God’s nature and characteristics. Without knowing and understanding God’s love we choose to use the love we know which can be different than God’s or not use love at all. This is where the refining process turns us into who God has intended us to be.
In the Old Testament, Job was tested under fire with Satan asking God to prove Job would curse God to his face. Job 2:2-7 says “And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth (avoids) evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his feet unto the crown.” God let Satan try Job and knew Job would not curse him. Everybody around Job asked Job to curse God and die but Job would not do it. God gave Satan authority to afflict Job with boils without killing him. We all have been tested to a point.
For the last three weeks, I have been tested and tried with fire. A week ago I was involved in a six-car pileup where I basically drove into an accident with no injuries, and twelve thousand dollars in damage. The body shop person said to me are you sure you did not have whiplash, I said it felt like I ran into a pillow, I felt nothing. The thing that bothered me was God kept me away from situations or made sure I stopped before a possible accident happened. This time it felt like I was led into the accident. A day later I heard God tell me “You were led like sheep to the slaughter.” This was Satan that put me in this accident but God made sure I
felt nothing and did not get hurt. The next day a storm came and it looked like somebody peeled a 2×3 ft area away from the back of my shed and pushed the metal braces and steel from the back and lifted the shed and put it on the roof part on the road and ditch across the road. A tree my family got for a memorial was divided into four pieces. A week before these two happenings, I went to bed one night and as soon as I got in bed I did not feel quite right and felt like I was going to throw up. I started praying and it went away. The next night after a Bible study I felt the same way and prayed and it went away. I have been stung by a bee by just putting my arm down after the window was down in a truck. My arm swelled up almost twice as big.
What I am trying to show is that we get tried by fire and Satan loves testing us, but God controls what Satan can do to us just as God had control over what happened to Job. When I am tried with fire, I call it “circling the wagons around Jesus.” This is a tactic used in the old west when the pioneers were attacked. I am adding Jesus as the center point in the circle. The wagons just blocked the attack. Satan wants us to believe God is attacking us when Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy us. Remember Job was blessed immensely for his trial with more than he had before. John 10:10-11 says, and this is Jesus speaking, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good Shepard: the good Shepard giveth his life for the sheep.” The thief is Satan and is not looking out for us.
Jesus is our deliverer and savior. No matter what happens, Jesus is the best we got. Follow him, believe in him with all our hearts and he will take care of you. God Bless.
