As silver
"He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, brought us into hardscrabble country, pushed us to our very limit, road-tested us inside and out, took us to hell and back; finally He brought us to this well-watered place." (Psalm 66:10, MSG)
I have a sterling silver necklace that I love. I don't wear it too often (babies tend to pull on necklaces and break them!), but I do love to adorn it on special occasions. Whenever I pull it out of my vanity drawer, however, I am always grumbling. Just in a couple of months' time of hiding, its finish has become lackluster and tarnished. I rush off to attempt to find my polishing cloth and fix it.
Within seconds of rubbing the "magic" cloth over its tired surface, the silver begins to come to life again. Within five minutes, it is gleaming, like new and as if it'd never been worn.
How does the silver get tarnished? Part of it is because something about silver reacts to the air. Naturally, over time, the silver will become discolored just because it is in our atmosphere. Secondly, the oils in our hands leave residue when we handle it, making tarnish more likely to form, diminishing its beauty.
When silver is purified in the jeweler's shop, it is heated to an extremely hot temperature. It melts, and what happens? All of its impurities come to the surface. The jeweler can them skim them off and produce a 98% pure silver for crafting a fine piece of adornment. Amazing.
I am silver. All of us are. I have recently been placed back into the refiner's fire. Things have sprung up which are bubbling to the surface. I have had to take a hard, hard look at myself and my life and I don't like what I see. It's time to get heated up and force some impurities out.
Like silver, too, I have things, ugly things, in my life that appear just because I am human and I live on the planet earth....much like silver tarnishes from air exposure. I have, too, been "touched" by people and things in my life who have made imprints which have slowly turned to an ugly, dingy color for all to see. God realizes that we are silver ("He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14)). Yet God doesn't want us to remain tarnished.
He has brought friends and family into my world recently, rocking it relentlessly. It's painful....I won't kid anyone about that. It hurts SO much. Yet I can look forward to the aftermath....when I will be free of these impurities, these things which deter me from being the very best in Christ.
Refine me, God. I thank You for this time of extreme heat and purification. Without it, I would not shine, and You intend for us to shine with brilliance.
I have a sterling silver necklace that I love. I don't wear it too often (babies tend to pull on necklaces and break them!), but I do love to adorn it on special occasions. Whenever I pull it out of my vanity drawer, however, I am always grumbling. Just in a couple of months' time of hiding, its finish has become lackluster and tarnished. I rush off to attempt to find my polishing cloth and fix it.
Within seconds of rubbing the "magic" cloth over its tired surface, the silver begins to come to life again. Within five minutes, it is gleaming, like new and as if it'd never been worn.
How does the silver get tarnished? Part of it is because something about silver reacts to the air. Naturally, over time, the silver will become discolored just because it is in our atmosphere. Secondly, the oils in our hands leave residue when we handle it, making tarnish more likely to form, diminishing its beauty.
When silver is purified in the jeweler's shop, it is heated to an extremely hot temperature. It melts, and what happens? All of its impurities come to the surface. The jeweler can them skim them off and produce a 98% pure silver for crafting a fine piece of adornment. Amazing.
I am silver. All of us are. I have recently been placed back into the refiner's fire. Things have sprung up which are bubbling to the surface. I have had to take a hard, hard look at myself and my life and I don't like what I see. It's time to get heated up and force some impurities out.
Like silver, too, I have things, ugly things, in my life that appear just because I am human and I live on the planet earth....much like silver tarnishes from air exposure. I have, too, been "touched" by people and things in my life who have made imprints which have slowly turned to an ugly, dingy color for all to see. God realizes that we are silver ("He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14)). Yet God doesn't want us to remain tarnished.
He has brought friends and family into my world recently, rocking it relentlessly. It's painful....I won't kid anyone about that. It hurts SO much. Yet I can look forward to the aftermath....when I will be free of these impurities, these things which deter me from being the very best in Christ.
Refine me, God. I thank You for this time of extreme heat and purification. Without it, I would not shine, and You intend for us to shine with brilliance.
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