“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”
I don’t know about you but this image always struck me as a bit violent. Any one who has watched an old western has seen how the blacksmith heated and beat on the metal he was shaping for a particular use. I know both gold and silver were seldom the metal the blacksmith was working on but it’s still an unpleasant picture of how they are refined and shaped. Recently I was reading the commentaries on this verse and a new idea began to emerge. Yes the refining process can be brutal but it must be worth it for the outcome. As precious as the refined gold and silver are, and no one doubts their value especially when purified, how much more precious are the lives of God’s saints when He has refined them. As God removes the sin and results of the brokenness from our story what is left resembles Jesus. That is His promise. He is committed to conforming His followers into the image of His son. We are told we were originally created in His image. Sin spoiled that condition but thanks to God’s great love and gift of His son we now have access to “The Blacksmith”. We may feel at times that we are in the furnace or the crucible. God allows whatever it takes to remove the dross and shape us into His Son’s image. There is a tale about the brilliant Renaissance artist Michelangelo. He was asked about the difficulties that he must have encountered in sculpting his masterpiece David. But he replied with an unassuming description of his creative process: “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David.” Today join God as He chips away. #BeTheEdge
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” Romans 8:29a NIV
