Come Forth and Come Here!
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Zechariah 13:9
...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." -
If you aren’t familiar with the process of refining metals, this verse may not provide as much comfort and hope for you as it is intended to do. An unknown author told a story about a woman who was interested in learning how the refining process worked.
“She went accordingly and without telling the object of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which he fully described to her. "But Sir" she said, "do you sit while the work of refining is going on?" "Oh, yes, madam," replied the silversmith; "I must sit with my eye steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured. As the lady was leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said he had forgotten to mention that the only way that he knows when the process of purifying is complete when he sees his own image reflected in the silver....”
Sometimes in our lives we may feel as if we are in that furnace of trouble, shame, fear, doubt, loneliness, grief or pain. During those times, it helps to remember that though we an the super-heated refiner’s fire, God has his gaze steadily fixed on that furnace. Dross is the waste that is burned off during the refining process. As the metal is heated the dross rises to the top and has to be removed by the metallurgist. God works the same way in our lives. He removes all the dross from our lives until we are a reflection of His Son.
Dan 3:12, 19-26
12. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 19. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20. And he ordered certain mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21. Then these men were bound in their mantles, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were cast into the burning fiery furnace. 22. Because the king's order was strict and the furnace very hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. 24. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He said to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king." 25. He answered, "But I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." 26. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace and said, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come here!" Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.
That fourth image in the furnace was Christ. And He is in our furnace with us. Even though it doesn’t feel like it, He is with us as the dross is burned off and scooped out and thrown away. And when He sees His own reflection transposed over ours, He calls to us to come forth and come here.
My prayer today is that you find peace in the truth that no matter what you are experiencing in your life, Jesus is walking through the fire with you. And that you wait with great anticipation for Him to call you to come forth and come her.
Mary
Labels: God, gold, Jesus, refiner's fire, silver
