Welcome to my randomized study & miscellaneous thoughts about the Awesome God of the universe, who He is and what He wants us to be.

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Verse of the Day

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Today's Quote

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Trial By Fire

I don't know how many of you receive weekly e-mail prayer requests such as I do through our local church office. If you do, in the course of a week, you will see a number of very serious prayer requests coming from our brothers and sisters regarding health, financial and relationship issues. These are the day-to-day struggles that we deal with on this earth. Everyone here deals with these problems, believer and non-believer alike. The only difference that I can see is how we as believers can choose to respond.

Let me illustrate what I mean. Among His other attributes, we believe that God is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere) and omnipotent (all powerful). Therefore, if when we are undergoing some type of struggle or trial in our lives, it stands to reason that (a) God knows about it and (b) God could stop it. In the same way, I could have continued tying my son's shoelaces for him - that was a struggle for a five-year-old - but I chose not too. I chose to continue to encourage him and show him how to tie his own shoelaces so that he could overcome his struggle. How many times do we face our own trials with the mind of a five-year-old wanting immediate relief? We oftentimes do not have the "God-perspective" to be able to see what He is doing in us and through us while we are in the midst of the trials. The "God-perspective" is the eternal, heavenly view of our lives that our Father has. If we were able to look back on our lives from heaven 10,000 years from now, would the picture seem vastly different that it looks to us today? I think it would.

James, a cousin of Jesus and one of the twelve disciples, wrote, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James 1:2). Consider it pure joy??? That certainly is not a reaction that we would have based upon our own fleshly desires is it? The world advertises "pure joy" as a week on a cruise ship, winning a lottery prize a shiny, new sports car - but certainly not trials of many kinds.

Let's look at one reaction to trials. In 1871, tragedy struck Chicago as fire ravaged the city. When it was all over, 300 people were dead and 100,000 were homeless. Horatio Gates Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. A lawyer who had invested much of his money into the downtown Chicago real estate, he'd lost a great deal to the fire. And his one son (he also had four daughters) had died about the same time. Still, for two years Spafford - who was a friend of evangelist Dwight Moody - assisted the homeless, impoverished, and grief-stricken ruined by the fire.

After about two years of such work, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. They were to go to England to join Moody and Ira Sankey on one of their evangelistic crusades, then travel in Europe. Horatio Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on ahead. He would catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic.

Their ship, the Ville de Havre, never made it. Off Newfoundland, it collided with an English sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio's wife, Anna, was able to cling to a piece of floating wreckage (one of only 47 survivors among hundreds), their four daughters - Maggie, Tanetta, Annie, and Bessie - were killed. Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife, only two words long: "saved alone."

Spafford boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife, and the two finally met up with Dwight Moody. "It is well," Spafford told him quietly. "The will of God be done." Spafford went on to write the song "It Is Well With My Soul". The first verse goes like this:

"When peace like a river, attendeth my way;
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul."

I must confess that Spafford sounds more like a modern-day Job than a modern-day me. But let's take a look at some things we can all try to do to take the focus off of the trial and keep looking at Jesus.

When you find yourself in times of trouble:

1. Spend time alone with God. See Jesus' example in Matthew 26:39-44. While awaiting the betrayal by Judas and His crucifixion, Jesus spent time in prayer.
   
2. Praise and Worship God. See Paul & Silas in Acts 16:22-30. Rather than moan about their condition, sitting in a horrid prison cell with their feet in stocks, these two prayed and sang hymns of praise to God. The earth shook, cell doors opened, chains broke - as did men's hearts.
   
3. Spend time in fellowship with other believers. Do not shut yourself away from your brothers and sisters when in time of need. See Acts 12.
   
4. Spend time ministering to others in need. Focus upon loving others and fulfilling needs that they have, in this way you too will be blessed.
   

In many ways, we are like gold. Gold dug from the earth is naturally full of many physical impurities. To purify gold, it first must be heated to its melting point of 1,063 degrees Celsius or 1,948 degrees Fahrenheit. [i] Once the gold has been heated enough, it becomes molten or liquid. The differences between the density or weight of the gold and other metals, minerals and impurities, allow the craftsman to refine the gold. The impurities form a liquefied layer called "slag" or "dross" which is poured off from the gold. By undertaking this melting-separating process numerous times, the purity of the gold can be increased to approaching one hundred percent. [ii] This so called "trial by fire" is also seen in the life of God's chosen in order to purify them, to remove the "slag" of sin and corruption from them so that they may be twenty-four karat Holy Spirit. Job is recorded as stating, "But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." [iii]

The Apostle Peter commends us to, "greatly rejoice, even though ...you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." [iv] Finally, the Old Testament prophets Zechariah and Malachi offer us the following images of God the purifier of men:

"He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness." Malachi 3:3

"And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, "They are My people,' And they will say, "The LORD is my God.'" Zechariah 13:9

Once purified, gold is shaped by being hammered and beaten into shape. It can also be cut into fine wires or threads, engraved and made into thin sheets that could be used to overlay other materials. [v]

To the Christian, times of trial and hardship are times when we can and must rely more and more upon God, His leading, guidance, and His provision for us. The character of a man is most visibly revealed under times of strain. It is in times like these that Christ is to be more revealed. The wisdom of Proverbs 17:3 teaches us that, "The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the LORD tests hearts." God calls upon His people to step aside from unrighteousness and proclaim, "The LORD is my God."

I know that I am not "golden" yet but I do pray that we - you and I - can consider the trails that we face "pure joy" as we know that God is using them to make us more like the image of His Son.


[i] Banfield, Jill, Gold, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
(September 16, 2001)
[ii] More About Gold. (September 16, 2001).
[iii] Holy Bible, Job 23:10.
[iv] Ibid., 1 Peter 1:6 7.
[v] Ibid., 2 Chronicles 9:15; Exodus 25:31, 28:11, 37:2, 39:3.

scribbled with crayon by dr. larry at 12:45 PM