Christians-Today Ministry

A while back, someone shared the following story with me by email. Today I shared this story with a dear friend of mine and it really blessed her heart. I hope this story comforts you and blesses your hearts as well ~ ~

Malachi 3:3 Says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible Study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames where hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy – when I see my image in it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. (Author Unknown)

I think this is a wonderful story and I take comfort in knowing that God is sitting right there watching me through all my trials and tribulations – and that he will remove me from the fire - at just the right moment in time, so as not to destroy me, “But to refine me”.

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That’s right, God DOES have a plan for you! It says in Jeremiah 29:11-13:

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

You see, God loves you so much that even before you were born, He had a plan for you. He had a plan to make you prosperous, a plan to protect you and keep you from harm and therefore giving you hope and a future. Although God had a plan for us from the very beginning, He also threw a “clause” in there. He gave us free will. He did not give us free will so that we might stray from His divine plans, but so that we would come to Him freely, willingly and by choice. Think about it. If God did not give us free will, how rewarding would it be for Him, if He were to force us to love Him, instead of giving us a choice in the matter? If you have ever loved somebody who did not love you in return, would it have made you feel any better if that person loved you, only because you forced them to? Wouldn’t you rather that they sincerely love you by their own free will? Well, that is how God feels about us. He would rather us love Him with the deepest sincerity and straight from the heart - and by our own free will.

Ok, now back to His plans that He has for us. Because He has given us free will, many of us have turned a blind eye to God. Many feel that their accomplishments are their own and that God had nothing to do with it. WRONG! God has everything to do with EVERYTHING! It is His exclusive right to allow any of the following: success, love, heartbreak, illness and failure in a person’s life, according to His will. Many of you might say that well, if in Jeremiah 29:11 He says He plans to prosper us and not to harm us; you have to stop and think about the choices you’ve made on your own, and decide if it was the choices you made that brought you harm, or was God using you for another purpose? Becoming a Christian isn’t always the easiest or most glamorous life to follow, but Jesus Christ’s road to the cross was not easy either; and he did it for US. Once you have decided to follow Christ, God will want you to become stronger and stronger, especially now, in the end times.

It says in Malachi 3:3: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Do you know how a silversmith refines silver? He takes the silver and holds it in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest, as to burn away all the impurities; keeping his eyes on the silver the entire time it is in the fire. If the silver is left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. Do you know how the silversmith knows when the silver is fully refined? It is when he can see his own image in it. This is exactly what God does with us. He puts us in the middle of the flames where it is the hottest - the whole time keeping His loving eyes on us and removes us not even a fraction of a second too late. This is what is meant by ‘times of trials’. Our trials are what makes us stronger and therefore, as time goes on, God is able to start seeing His own image in us; because remember, we were created in His image.

I suppose the point I am trying to make here, is that God has a plan for each one of us, and if we do what is right and seek God before all things, His plans will begin to unfold in our lives. However, as long as we are still living a sinful life and not respecting God or putting Him first, we may not begin to see those glorious plans. Matthew 6:33 says: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Personally, I would rather put God and His kingdom first, seek His righteousness, live obediently according to His Word, and discover the awesome life He has in store for me! Wouldn’t you?

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