The Lords’ promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.
Psalm 12:6, New Living Translation
Have you ever experienced God test you? In the Psalm 11, says that God tests or examines the righteous and the wicked. But we know that the difference between the righteous and the wicked is that the righteous are like a tree planted by a river bank (Psalm 1) that weathers all seasons and bears good fruit. King David in this psalm compares the words and promises of God as being like silver purified seven times in the furnace. They are flawless. They have no imperfections. They are perfect. When we’re being tested by God, it’s the process he uses to find the flaws and work them out.
A few weeks ago, I was really struggling with some pain in my leg. I tried everything I could at home, I stretched it, I used foam rollers, I tried heat treatment and cold treatment. The pain got worse. So I went to see a Physiotherapist. They examined my leg, they found that the muscles through my leg and lower back had gotten so tight and knotted that they were pinching my sciatic nerve. No wonder it hurt! They set about working out the tension and knots in those muscles, needless to say it hurts. At one point the physio was putting pressure onto a particular problem area, I felt a jolt of pain shoot through me, except it never let up, she was keeping the pressure on. She asked me if it hurt. I thought to myself, somewhat sarcastically, ‘no, I only flinch when I’m enjoying myself’ but said a muted ‘Yes a little’ through gritted teeth. A sheepish ‘sorry’ was the reply, but no let up in pressure. A few days of stretching (doing the right ones this time) and using heat treatment (in the right places) led to the pain subsiding completely. It turned out that to ease my suffering, I had to go through some pain first.
We know that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him’ (Romans 8:28) and sometimes, unfortunately, that means we have to go through the fires and furnaces, through the pain in order to become the person God is calling us to be.
Prayer
Dear God thank you that you have a plan for all of us, that you know who we are and who we can be better than we do. Thank you that your words are true and pure and that you want to make us pure too. Please let it not hurt too much! Amen.
