“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.”- Job 23:10-11.
My wife, Ella, loves jewelry. And I love to get it for her. She would never buy it herself, but likes to get it.
In fact, she won’t buy anything for herself when it comes down to it. she would wear the same old clothes forever if it were left up to her. Anything new she has I get for her.
Which is okay with me. I like to buy her clothing and stuff, and I think I probably have better taste than she does. I will also push her into interesting new areas of clothes that she swould not go into if it were not for me. By that I mean color combinations and such. She is not really that adventerous in spite of being married to a whacko who would move her in a minute to a whole new area of the country. She welcomes adventure if I bring it, but otherwise would wear the same clothes and do the same things every day if she had it to do.
But back to the jewelry. She loves gold. But she doesn’t want a lump of raw rock. She wants refined gold, gold that has been put through the refining process, melted, burned and purified. Otherwise, it is not worth that much.
Gold in its pure from is only valuable in theory. It is a potentially valuable thing. It is only worth anything if it is burned to death. Then it is worth a lot.
The same goes for people. We are worth a lot to God, to others, to life in general if we have gone through the fire. Then we are purified and strong, in both faith and character.
God does not send problems. Nothing bad comes from above. But he uses what comes and makes us stronger, just like a miner makes raw ore into fine gold jewelry.
Just as the fire makes the gold pure, so the fire of life, the problems we come into contact with make us strong. Unless we go through problems and come out the other side, we are just raw material. The fire makes us finished and useful.
And then God can use us to his glory, just as the artist can make the pure gold into something beautiful.
He loves you. Let him work in your life.
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