Refiner’s Fire

This post is written to link with Five Minute Friday: write for five minutes on a one word prompt.  The prompt today is “refine.”

“A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go though the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain.”-Mildred White Struven

Sometimes though, I’d like to just sit and sunbathe- relax in the gentle heat, enjoy the comfort, feel at peace.

I don’t want to experience the white heat of the furnace.  I’d rather settle for an easy life.  Refinement sounds too painful, too much like hard work.

But then I think again, of the times I’ve known God refining me in the past: the times he called me out of my comfort zone, the pain that drew me to seek him, the moments of stepping out in faith to do tasks that just seemed too hard, the challenges to change and to leave behind unhelpful ways of thinking and acting.

Yes, it was hard and it was painful… but it was also worth it.  God refines us not out of anger or seeking to destroy us, but for our good, for our growth, to purify us, so he can use us.

And sometimes in the furnace is where we meet him.  Just as a mysterious fourth figure walked with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the furnace, God does not abandon us there.  He stays by our side, and we see his faithfulness.

We echo Job’s words at the end of his time of trial and testing: “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”  (Job 42:5 NLT)

The refining will not be easy, but it will be worth it.