by Dona Hake
Proverbs 25:4 (ERV)
silver to make it pure, and a worker
can make something beautiful.”
Today this is the truth I desire for you to ponder… You are so valuable and He loves you so much. As we walk through this life we realize that we are all walking through the process of change and hopefully we are seeing spiritual growth within us. There is a refining and purification that is taking place in our hearts if we deeply humble ourselves to His Mighty life changing Word.
One version of Proverbs 25:4 is translated like this:
“Remove the impurities from the silver,
and the smith has material to make a vessel.”
The Lord our Refiner desires to bring our hearts to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities. As our Purifier He will cause us to be free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates our hearts. God wants every bit of us so He can use us in wonderful ways to glorify Him on this earth.
In the forty one years that I have known the Lord I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have heard people share from the depths of their hearts as they walked through a difficult trial. Many at the end of the trial admit that they experienced God removing things from them that positioned them to be used in a greater way. Many times those difficult situations can actually cause us to do the soul searching we need to do and God is able to work in us in a greater way. At this point I want to say something very important and that is God does not bring grief and tests to see what we are made of. This is such a lie and false teaching. Our God is the giver of ONLY good gifts. He desires that we stand fast in our faith when the trials of this life happen. He desires that we seek to be full of His Word at all times for when the issues of life happen we have a rich well of strength within us to draw from. As we draw upon Him for wisdom and strength in the midst of a trial we will always find that in the end we are stronger in patience, longsuffering, and all the good things of our Lord.
As we keep our hearts humble before Him I believe He will continue to refine and purify us that we can serve and be used by Him in greater ways. Praise be to the God who is the Refiner and Purifier!