Why is God likened to a Refiner’s Fire?
For a moment, let us recall the process of refining silver.
The silversmith needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are up to the hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The silversmith not only had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver is being refined, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
I thought of God holding us in such a hot spot and reminds me of the passage that says “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
If you will ask the silversmith how he knows when the silver is fully refined, he will tell you “When I can already see my image in it.”
Such a simple yet profound statement! Even in this existing process of refining silver, in it is revealed God’s sovereign purpose of grace through everyone of life’s adversities that He allows them to touch His own children.
We don’t usually think of our daily pains and struggles as “gifts”, do we? Physical, financial, emotional burdens; struggles in one’s weaknesses, lusts of the flesh and even infirmities can be part of God’s loving sanctifying plan to make us more like Jesus; to conform us to Christlikeness and to allow us to be placed sometimes in overwhelming circumstances where in our deliverance He will receive all the glory.
Paul says in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
What does this really mean? First of all, Paul was not saying that God will do a magic in the very hardest times of life so at the end of the day all things are always gleaming. Many have unwittingly tried to use it in this fashion which it wasn't designed to be.
So then we must rightly ask, how is it that “all things work together for good…” ?
Romans 8:29 gives us the answer:
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
There is the cause for rejoicing; there is where our great hope lies; there is the reason for victory in the midst of trial; there is the fountain of joy in the midst of scalding tears. Every trial—even when purposed by others for our harm, God will use it for our good in that we have been “predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.”
God is like a Refiner's Fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner's fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire. A refiner's fire refines. It purifies. It melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact. He is like a Refiner's Fire.
It does say FIRE. And therefore purity and holiness will always be a dreadful thing. There will always be a proper "fear and trembling" in the process of becoming pure. We learn it from the time we are little children - never play with fire! And it's a good lesson!
Therefore, Christianity is never a plaything. And the passion for purity is never flippant. He is like fire and fire is serious. We don't fool around with it.
But it does say, he is like a REFINER'S fire. And therefore this is not merely a word of warning, but a tremendous word of hope. The furnace of affliction in the family of God is always for refinement, never for destruction.
I rejoice that I am being refined knowing that my Refiner’s eyes are on me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA6fCAHVzs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idA6fCAHVzs&feature=related
