Can he see his image in it?

 

I am of the opinion that everyone needs a hobby. Something that they enjoy and can use to relax in those spare moments of time.

Over the years, I have had many hobbies and although I don’t spend as much time on them as I used to, and have developed new hobbies as I’ve gotten older, I still enjoy the times I am able to devote my attention and time to one particular thing, learning how to do it better and hopefully benefiting others in the process.

One of my husband’s favourite hobbies is melting down different metals. He has a small crucible and also a couple of gas burners and an overflowing and expanding shed yard full to the brim of every type of metal in the form of scrap steel, old motors, air conditioners, copper wiring and the list goes on. He especially like to melt down lead and copper and brass.

I’ve watched him a few times as he laboriously melts the pieces of a particular metal and carefully skims off the impurities and melts them again and again until he is left with a purer form of the metal that he then pours into little molds of different shapes and sizes.

This time-consuming practice reminds me of a passage of Scripture found in the last book of the Old Testament and written by the prophet Malachi.

We don’t know a whole lot about Malachi, but we read that he pronounced judgment, urged repentance and proclaimed future hope through the coming of the Messiah.

In Chapter 3 we read an interesting phrase.

Malachi 3:1-3 KJV - Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. 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 shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

A refiner’s fire. A refiner and purifier of silver.

At this time of year, you may hear this phrase used in Handel’s famous oratorio Messiah. He quotes from this passage, and you will hear over and over again this phrase being sung, “he is like a refiner’s fire”.

In this passage in Malachi, God’s chosen prophet, calls upon the nation of Israel to repent and he warns them that the Lord is returning and that when he does, he will cleanse the nation with a judgment none will be spared from.

This reference to a refining fire is alluding to the process of purifying metal using a fire to heat the metal to a molten state and skimming off the dross that floats to the top.

Let me tell you a story that is told of a man who watched a silversmith as he went about his work.

There was a man who wanted to better understand the meaning of this passage in Malachi, and so he decided to visit a silversmith to gain some knowledge and insight into the process in hopes of understanding the phrase ‘refiner’s fire’.

He visited a silversmith and watched him at work. He watched the silversmith hold a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. The silversmith explained that in refining silver, you must hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest to burn away all the impurities. The man then thought about God holding us where the flames are the hottest to burn away our impurities. Then he thought again about the verse. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” He asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire and watch the process at all times.

The silversmith answered that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was tested in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. “You must leave it long enough to serve the purpose, but not too long as it would destroy it”. The man was silent for a moment. Then he asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.” (Author Unknown).

Reading this short story was fascinating to me as I began to relate it to the passage, just as I’m sure the man visiting the silversmith did as well.

There are other references to the refiner’s fire and the process of refining in the Bible as it is something that God wants us to get a hold of because there is a purpose to God’s refining.

Zechariah 13:9 KJV - And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Isaiah 48:10 KJV - Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

Proverbs 17:3 KJV - The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Psalm 66:10 KJV - For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you will have experienced firsthand God’s refining process. The life of the Christian is not a life of ease, and we will experience trials and there will be times where God needs to put us through the fire in order to purify us.

Sometimes, God has to turn up the temperature in our lives through difficult circumstances that challenge our faith and teach us perseverance. Just as the silversmith skims off the impurities as they rise to the surface, so too does God separate the character flaws in our lives from the person he wants us to become as we strive to be image bearers worthy of his name.

God’s desire is for us to reflect his character. And in order to do this, he has to put us through the fire often numerous times.

Psalm 12:6 KJV - The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Going back to our silversmith story, the silversmith knew just how long to keep the silver over the fire. What’s so wonderful about having a perfect, holy and righteous silversmith that works in our lives is that he doesn’t keep us over the fire one minute too long or one minute too short.

God is keeping his eye on you every step of the way. He knows exactly when we are at our limit and his timing is always perfect.

When you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you, and He will “sit as a refiner and purifier” keeping watch until He sees His image in you. The refiner stops when he sees his image in the metal, like a mirror.

God wants to spiritually purify us so that our hearts and actions reflect his character.

I think that this is why we so often have to go through a similar trial over and over. It is because God can’t see his image in us yet. He has to keep turning up the heat, putting us over the fire, letting the impurities rise to the surface, skimming them off and repeating the process, over and over.

God is intimately aware of your unique needs. He will remove you from the fire when he deems the time right.

Job understood this process of refining and testing all too well and yet he was able to say:

Job 23:10 KJV - But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

He came to understand that God had a purpose for his pain.

God wants us to be his image bearers. We should desire to be like Peter and John in the book of Acts. It was evident to others that they had been with Jesus. They reflected God’s character.

Acts 4:13 KJV - Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

But did you know that there are some forms of silver that can’t be purified by repeated times over the fire? When this happens, the refiner has to reject the metal.

Just so, we can choose to reject God’s refining process by turning away from his teachings, ignoring his still, small voice as he speaks to our hearts and choosing to live in rebellion.

When we do this, God can’t use us in the building of his kingdom. We have to be rejected for the work as we are impure, unteachable and not able to be molded into Christ likeness. What we’re doing is condemning ourselves to an inferior life and we are not able to enjoy the blessings that God had planned for us.

The process of refining is an unpleasant one. It’s not comfortable. It’s hard to understand. It often doesn’t make any sense. But ultimately, it is for our good.

Just as the well-known verse Romans 8:28 states, all things do work together for good if we love God and obey him. But it is God’s version of good, not ours.

We cannot see into the future, and we don’t know what we will face ahead, but we have a God who knows all things and he knows just what difficulties we need to face in the here and now so that we can be a blessing and a comfort to someone in the days ahead.

Let the Almighty silversmith do his work in your life. Don’t reject his purifying process. Don’t try and stay his hand. Don’t fight against the flames. Yield yourself to his plans and trust that he will “sit as a refiner and purifier”, watching you and staying beside you through every moment, every tear, every heartache, every pain, bringing comfort and peace to your soul.

Don’t try and understand it. Just let God work and ask him to give you the strength to bear it.

 

“IF GOD BRINGS YOU TO IT,

HE WILL BRING YOU THROUGH IT!”

 

“Some flowers, as the rose, must be crushed before their full fragrance is released. Some fruit, as the sycamore, must be bruised before it will attain ripeness and sweetness. Some metals, as gold, must be flung into the furnace before they reach full value and purity. The old oak log must be laid on the fire, and the flames encircle it, before its imprisoned music is set free.

So it is with the saints. It is true with many of us that we must be laid low before we will look high. We must know God's smiting before we can appreciate His smiling. The Potter must break the vessel before He can make out of the same material a new and beautiful vase. Our hearts must be broken before their richest contents can leak out and flow forth to bless others.

But whenever God sends a trial with one hand, He gives grace with the other. Thus, trials become triumphs. Burdens become wings. Affliction, instead of being a bed of thorns and a pathway of nettles, becomes a quilt of roses. The very things which seem to break us are the things which really “make” us. Lo, God is in the hurricane, and instead of driving us to destruction, it beats the scared mariner into that safest of all harbours, the encircling arms of God's love!”  J. Sidlow Baxter