27-Mar-2024 – You need faith to withstand the cleansing process of God
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years. -Malachi 3:4
In today’s verse we see a loving warning through the life of the people of Israel. Based on the verse we referred to, there was a time when the offerings of the people of Judah and Jerusalem were pleasant unto the Lord. But now they are not.
In the verses above, God tells them how he will change their situations from current bad condition to good again like before. Like the refiner and purifier of gold and silver, God will purify them.
If we consider the process of purification, first the gold or silver will be heated and melted using extreme temperatures. This process makes the gold or silver to loose it’s shape. But this is required to remove the impurities from it. Once they are purified, they will be made to beautiful ornaments of great value.
In the case of believers, the fire is the troubles, tribulations, unexpected negative situations, sudden loss of supporting members in life or any other thing that can burn us and kill the impurities like ego, selfishness, pride etc, which does not glorify God in our life.
If you are a believer, and going through some tough time, it is very much sure that God has planned something beautiful in your life. But there is something which is hindering that. To remove that from your life, God allows some unexpected situations and in an unexpected way.
If you remember the gold and silver again, the temperature used will only melt them but not perish them. That means, God allows situations only to that point, where we are ready to be moulded. But He will not allow anything beyond breaking point. Along with the trouble, he will also prepare the way to escape from that.
But the reason for this is “impurities”. Gold and silver they will not deliberately mix with impurities. In the course of life, as they are interacting with the surrounding environment, these impurities will get into the gold.
Similarly, we being believers must live in the same world where the current prince is the devil himself. The percentage of filth is around us beyond imagination. Even without our notice, “impurities” of this world can get into us.
Unlike gold and silver, there is a cleansing process via the word of God daily or weekly via the personal meditation or church sermons. If we are a true believer, having a continuous fellowship, we will be reminded and washed from these impurties.
But if we could not be cleansed, even if God is sending his word, then God has to use the furnace to remove the bad things from our life. Because, he does not want us to be perished but be saved for eternity.
That’s why you need faith to withstand the cleansing process of God
Prayer
Dear loving heavenly Father, thank you for your love and grace. Thank you for your word regarding the cleansing process through the furnace kind of situations. Yes Lord, you know our past, present and future. If we are to be shaped into beautiful ornaments, we must now be melted. Help us to understand this and help us not to leave our faith during those testing times, I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen!
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