I am painfully becoming acquainted with God’s second path for growth. For years I have celebrated the path of 2 Corinthians 3:18. The transformation brought about by the Holy Spirit as we behold Jesus in the scripture. But another path of growth and transformation is the way of the furnace. Proverbs says, “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for God but the Lord tests hearts”. By “test” it means the process of refining. The Old Man who wrote Psalm 71 understood it.
“You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again and bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” It seems contrary to our thinking that our loving, wise, good Father would show us many troubles and distresses. There is growth in our lives that only pain and suffering will bring to pass. We don’t have to like it, but it is from the hand of God for our good and His glory.
You know life isn’t fair. God doesn’t even the scales down here for us. The lies and deceit and evil persist. The brokenness continues. It seems to be getting worse and not better. Paul said that in the last days, “Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived.” It is easy to speak against God and the way He is or isn’t doing things. Will we trust Him? Will we walk by faith? When you look at Hebrews 11 you realize that many of the servants of God met a bleak end. God gets to choose how to spend us and how to refine and grow us up.
The application is found in verse 14. “But as for me I will hope continually and will praise You yet more and more.” We can praise God because He is seated on His throne ruling over the entire world. We can praise God because He is working all things for good for His children. We can praise God because all things are His servants (whether they know it or like it). We can praise God because He is good, loving, just, merciful, glorious. We can praise God because there is a day coming when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. It is in the darkness that the light shines most brightly.
Your brother,
David
(Shared with David Coffield’s permission)
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