Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Steve Green singing… Refiner’s Fire … gloriously and poignantly expressing the reality that God does His purifying work in us by the fires of life.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Job 23:10 [NLT] …
10 “But He (the LORD) knows where I am going. And when He tests me, I will come out pure as gold.
… Job sees God is working through the trials in his life to purify his soul.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Job 23:1-12 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… In a moment of clarity amidst his trials, Job realizes that God is testing and refining Him by his trials.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Proverbs 17:3 [NKJV]
… 3 Fire tests the purity of silver and old, but the LORD tests the heart.
… Easy to see the word picture from Solomon here, isn’t it?
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Zechariah 13:9a [NKJV] …
9 I will bring that group [God’s people] through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. …
… The fires of life purify us for God’s glory.
Reference Passage #3 [NKJV] : … Malachi 3:2-3 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God will purify His people in the fires of life.
Reference Passage #4 [NKJV] : … Romans 8:28 [NKJV] …
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are the called according to His purpose for them.
… Yes, even the fiery trials of life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Jennifer Benson Schuldt, uses the biblical story of Job to illustrate how God uses the trials of life to refine us as a fire which purifies fine metals. The ODB author wrote: In the middle of his despair, Job had a moment of clarity. His faith flickered to life like a candle in a dark room. He said, “[God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
Christians are tried and purified when God uses difficulty to burn away our self-reliance, pride, and earthly wisdom. If it seems as if God is silent during this process and He is not answering our cries for help, He may be giving us an opportunity to grow stronger in our faith.
I think most reading here would agree that the fires of life, i.e., the trials/tribulations we encounter, are those times when our character is shaped and fashioned into a stronger, more Christlike self. And that’s what Job, going through all his horrible trials, came to realize [see highlight passages above]. And other OT writers, like Solomon, Zechariah and Malachi [see above], also wrote of this principle of God’s REFINING FIRE, … where our God uses or allows the challenges of life to burn away the dross of pride and selfishness from our character and to reshape us into our Lord’s image.
Any reading here, PLEASE take the time to view the linked song above with Steve Green singing his rendition of the song, Refiner’s Fire; and then realize that any trial were going through is, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, for our good.
My Prayer Today: Heavenly Father, … Lord, Help me to endure Your fires of life so that I can be reshaped and refined into the purity of Your image. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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