The furnace of life...

I was sitting by the cozy fireplace last week, feeling the intensity of its heat, when my thoughts wandered to the process by which God shapes and molds those whose lives are committed to him. Gazing into the flames, I was taken to the analogy of the silversmith sitting before the fire... gazing at his work of art smoldering in the flames.

The silversmith sits hour after hour looking for the right moment to remove his silver masterpiece from the fire. How does he know when the time is right? When the silversmith can see his own reflection in the silver, then he knows the silver has been refined... purified by fire to reflect the image of its maker.

This little picture reveals a much broader canvas that represents our spiritual walk...

We are the silver...He is the silversmith
[Malachi 3:3] - "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver..."

As the work of His hands, His artwork, His masterpiece, He places us into the fire. The trials of life are like the flames of refinement. Although the fire rages around us, we need not fear, for the Lord is like the silversmith, sitting there keeping close watch on his work of art. When we are purified to the point where we reflect the image of our Creator, then we become a vessel that displays the glory of the Craftsman.

[Zechariah 13:9] - "This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. 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 our God.'"


[May the trials in my life, Lord, prove to be the fires by which you refine me like silver...]