Courage and bravery are words too often used, too little considered. It is one thing to speak them, another thing to live them. It is never easy to face hardship, suffering, pain, and torture. It is always easier to die, simply to give up, to surrender and let the pain die with you. To fight is to keep pain alive, even to intensify it.”
–Louis L’Amour (Killoe)
“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.”
–1 Peter 4:12 (NKJV)
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Do you have a troubled mind ? Are things coming at you left and right and you don’t know which way to turn? It seems like we live in a world today that is full of woe, heartache, confusion, terror, and fear. Some of these things may be coming at you right now. Fear–of the virus, of the unknown. Suffering–from sickness, disease, injury, or you know someone who is. Confusion–the craziness of all the “alternative” lifestyles and genders. Perhaps, just perhaps this is God working on you.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss the trial that you are going through. Read some of the letters of Paul and Peter and you will see that they tell us not to be distressed over the trials that come our way. In our modern Christian culture that promotes harmony and prosperity there is little teaching and preaching on the suffering that believers may go through and the reasons for it. I know of one church that will not sing a song that has the words, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” because the pastor says that the Lord does not take away. He needs to read the book of Job.
“Remove impurities from silver, and a vessel will be produced for a silversmith. Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.”
–Proverbs 25:4-5 (HCSB)
“Take away the dross from silver, And it will go to the silversmith for jewelry. Take away the wicked from before the king, And his throne will be established in righteousness.”
–Proverbs 25:4-5 (NKJV)
Before it can be used by the silversmith, silver ore must be taken to a mill to remove the dross–the impurities, its slag or scum. It is crushed, heated, and melted. Impurities will then float to the surface where they need to be removed. When you find yourself going through a trial, it may be the Lord getting rid of the scum in your life. Then He will come along and scrape the crud away. After that He will begin to work on other ways in your life; the Silversmith will then decide what to do.
I included the NKJV as it shows that the silversmith can now make the silver into jewelry. The life can now shine and adorn properly. The inner person is now seen because the Holy Spirit is working. However, it might not be jewelry that the Silversmith has in mind. It may be a spoon or fork. We have several old pieces of silverware. Even though it has gone through the process of being crushed and put through the fiery process they will tarnish and turn dull. Silver must be polished. From time to time a scrubbing needs to take place so even though the impurities have been removed, the environment around it will tarnish the shine, therefore there needs to be cleaning, polishing, and buffing.
Notice verse 5, as it references that the wicked need to be removed from the king. There is wickedness everywhere we look. Nature and mankind display the effects of sin. God is the King and He sits on the throne twiddling His thumbs, yawning “Ho Hum.” NO! He is busy working on us, working on the world. He is never idle. He is, in fact, applying the heat to the world. One day He will purify it and the wicked will be removed. Never think for a moment that God is not involved with ridding this world of wickedness and evil. We may not see His work, but know that He is working to bring about a kingdom that will be established in righteousness (other versions say with justice).
So don’t despair in what you see or hear in the news–God has everything under control. Don’t despair, whimper, and cry over your present suffering–God has everything under control. Look up, our redemption draws nearer and nearer. I am reminded of the words written by Andre Crouch, “Soon and very soon we are going to see the KIng.”
(Thanks to Bob Beasley for some ideas that I incorporated in the above devotion.)