Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade...In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:3-4; 6-7)
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I sat there in my car, the skies were cloudy and gray, which seemed to match my mood. Finally, the day came to an end, but not without a battle.
I was defeated. Dozens of papers were scrunched up in my bag of a failed lesson I attempted to teach. "I just don’t understand what you’re trying to do through me God? Why am I going through this, I just don’t see what can come from this? I know that everyone faces trials here on earth. We’re humans, I get it. But why this one, why me?"
I just didn’t understand what God was trying to teach me, where was the underlying lesson of this season?
There are many seasons in life. Just like there is the fall, winter, spring… and then finally the long-anticipated summer. But before we experience the beautiful warmth and sunshine which comes with the summer, we usually have to go through the brittle winter and those nasty spring allergies.
I can’t help but think that God must have rooted a lesson in here somewhere. Before beauty…pain. Before fully appreciating the light…we have to experience the darkness.
This is much like the process of refining gold.
Before it is molded into jewelry, it must be refined and melted. Borax and soda ash are added to separate the precious gold from the other metals, making the product pure.
"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) I suppose just like the gold, we go through various trials too so that we could be refined. That though this season in time is not exactly my favorite, every situation is changing me and molding me still.
That thought allows me to start seeing a different perspective. How is God using this trial to refine me?
It isn’t about what we go through, but rather how we come out of it. It’s a purifying process. No doubt about it, bad times will come and go. But how we respond changes everything.
In the hardest of times, we need to keep going. We need to remember that this whole season isn’t in vain. We are being purified and molded every step of the way. In this way, all of the stubborn, messy parts of us are being stripped away…and the pure gold is left.
This is the gold that God knows we have deep inside that tangled mess of our hearts.
He’s making us more like Him.
So chin up. Keep trudging forward. This part is only for a little while…but the beauty that will come from it is eternal.
"These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:7)
Blessings,
Declare Glory
written by: Barbara Zoino
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