A Trip Through the Refiner's Fire
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. ~ 1 Peter 1:7 (NLT)
Isn’t this human nature? God comes to us with a test, a test to bring us deeper, a test to stretch our faith, a test to break us out of our comfort zone, and we immediately recoil.
God calls us to something that costs more money than we have. We look at the price tag and say, “I don’t have that kind of money!” God calls us to something that would take more time than we have. We look at our crammed schedules and say, “I don’t have that kind of time!” God calls us to something that is beyond our abilities. We look in the mirror and say, “I don’t have that kind of talent.”
Each time we do this, we give up a chance to be purified, to be deepened, to be matured, to draw closer to God and experience more of His grace and power in our lives.
As I type these words, my son, Kyle, is studying for a World History test. He is not excited about this upcoming test. Most of us are like Kyle. We don’t like tests and would prefer not to take them. How about you? Are you feeling the first blasts of heat from God's testing and instinctively stepping back instead of intrepidly stepping forward?
Don’t miss these chances. God doesn’t test you to hurt you. He tests you because He loves you and He wants so much for you to be all that He created you to be. He wants you to trust Him and believe that He knows what’s best for you.
Each test is an opportunity to grow. So the next time a test comes, don’t step back. Walk toward the furnace. You may not like the trip through, but when you come out the other side you will discover God in a whole new way.
