SEPTEMBER 3
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
There are three wonderful parts to this promise: God knows our way, He will try us, and we shall come forth as gold. A patient who has confidence in a physician will willingly endure much suffering inflicted in order to be cured. If we settle it once and for all that God knows what He is doing and what is good for us, then we can endure the trial, realizing that His eye is watching over us.
Is it not written that God "shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. 3:3)? Like a refiner of gold He watches the precious metal in the crucible. Hotter and hotter grows the fire. Clearer and more shining grows the metal. Bit by bit the dross is melted away and separated from the gold. At last refiners see their own image perfectly reflected in the pure molten mirror. Then it is taken from the fire to its proper use. How like the life of a Christian! How often the fires of tribulation, of test, of suffering, burn! Hotter and hotter they become until the children of God reflect the image of their Lord and come forth as gold.
God does not promise that we shall never be in trouble, but He does say of His child, "I will be with him in trouble" (Ps. 91:15). Joseph, the victim of injustice, with reputation blackened, was cast into an Egyptian prison, but the Lord was with him (Gen. 39:21). When the three young Hebrews were in the fiery furnace, "the form of the fourth...like the Son of God" was with them (Dan. 3:25).
So let us always remember that God knows the way we take. He steps unseen with us. In our trial He is with us, always with us.
"I don't know what is in the future," said a Salvation Army member, "but I know the Lord is in the future; and I know I am in the Lord."
What more than that do any of us need?
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried" (Ps. 66:10).
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
There are three wonderful parts to this promise: God knows our way, He will try us, and we shall come forth as gold. A patient who has confidence in a physician will willingly endure much suffering inflicted in order to be cured. If we settle it once and for all that God knows what He is doing and what is good for us, then we can endure the trial, realizing that His eye is watching over us.
Is it not written that God "shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. 3:3)? Like a refiner of gold He watches the precious metal in the crucible. Hotter and hotter grows the fire. Clearer and more shining grows the metal. Bit by bit the dross is melted away and separated from the gold. At last refiners see their own image perfectly reflected in the pure molten mirror. Then it is taken from the fire to its proper use. How like the life of a Christian! How often the fires of tribulation, of test, of suffering, burn! Hotter and hotter they become until the children of God reflect the image of their Lord and come forth as gold.
God does not promise that we shall never be in trouble, but He does say of His child, "I will be with him in trouble" (Ps. 91:15). Joseph, the victim of injustice, with reputation blackened, was cast into an Egyptian prison, but the Lord was with him (Gen. 39:21). When the three young Hebrews were in the fiery furnace, "the form of the fourth...like the Son of God" was with them (Dan. 3:25).
So let us always remember that God knows the way we take. He steps unseen with us. In our trial He is with us, always with us.
"I don't know what is in the future," said a Salvation Army member, "but I know the Lord is in the future; and I know I am in the Lord."
What more than that do any of us need?
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried" (Ps. 66:10).
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