“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:10-12 NIV
Life has a way of closing in on you at times and leaving you with realities that you did not see coming. The life you know today can chnage completely in less than 24 hours. We have no power or control over what happens to us in most cases, but we have complete control over what we do with what we have been given, whether comfortable or extremely painful. In life, we are continually making adjustments and changes as life requires them. As we adjust, we change and God is glorified in us. Job is an example of a life turned upside-down but also of one who found a way to see God in his trouble. He had a lot of voices around him that tried to figure out all that was happening in his life. But none of those voices had the truth. The truth was God was at work in the midst of all that the enemy was throwing at him. Job comes to a place where he declares, “I am keeping my heart right because I know God produces the rare and precious in places of obscurity.”
You see, gold can only come forth through the fire. We declare without a thought that we want the rare and precious things of God to be produced in us, but then whine when the heat is turned up. We can’t have it both ways. God is looking for hearts that can say, “ through the fire, through the flood, I have faithfully followed his steps. I have kept his ways without turning aside, I valued His word more than life itself.”
Gold cannot be purified without being tried by fire. Our lives cannot be purified without the trial of fire. We don’t like this, but this fire produces men and women of gratitude, men and women whose hearts are transformed. God knows the way we take. Is the road we take one that leads to Him or one that resists His fire? The thing we forget so often is, that this fire that consumes, only removes what shouldn’t be there anyway. It leaves behind rich and rare beauty. Why would we settle for anything less?
We become men and women who can declare like Job, while life is still uncertain, “I think I see gold.”
Today I am grateful for the purifying fires of God’s love. I have resisted them many times when I have not understood what was unfolding in my life, but I can look back and see that every time the fire was applied, I came out changed. I am thankful that He has not left me to the critical voices of the well meaning, nor to my own incorrect judgements at times, but He has faithfully come and reminded me that He IS God, and my heart can rest, and trust when I cannot see.
Comments(7)
Susan Craig says:
February 25, 2015 at 1:40 amI wonder how I would react if everything was taken from me-all my family,all my possessions,my health-In the short time that it was all taken from Job-what a shock that would be!!!! I hope that I would react as Job had done. He never sinned in his response to his devastation. God did not dessert Job when he had nothing left-he still had God. The refining fire left behind very little but it was enough-it was gold because his faith in God remained. How was it that he survived with his faith intact? This verse states it well-He followed close behind the Lord all his life, He kept the Lord’s way-His commands -without turning aside and he treasured the word of God more than bread itself. These practices in good times and in bad,enabled him to say when he lost everything-“Shall I accept good from the Lord and not bad?? This is the attitude we all must have at all times. When we belong to the Lord,we must accept whatever He allows in our lives as being pert of His perfect will for us and thank Him for everything. This is a tall order indeed-it is not humanly possible without His strength and understanding, The more I read the Bible,the more I realize how much more I have to learn and grow. When Stephen was stoned to death in Acts, he became the first Christian martyr. Many more followed him. Even today, christians all over the world are dying for their faith in Jesus. A woman I have greatly admired in my lifetime has been Corrie Ten Boom-what she had to endure for doing the right thing when the penalty for doing so was devastating. She lost her whole family to the Naztis and suffered greatly herself during World War 2. She endured what Job had endured-her faith was tested beyond her ability to even endure. What a testimony she had when her trial was finally over and she alone remained of all her family and loved ones. She was one who endured and came thru the fire as pure as gold. We do not know what our future holds in this life-we may never have to endure through times like those but our faith needs to be strong in these days now so that when it comes our turn to go through trials,our faith remains strong and we trust our Lord to get us through to the other side. That is the faith we need to have. So when we have our tough times and our valley experiences,they are preparing us for the rest of our lives so that we learn to trust the Lord no matter what we go through. The older I get,the more I understand why I went through difficulties in my life. I learned more from the hard times than I ever learned in the easier times. Lord I thank you for all the way you have led me thus far-Lord I thank you that my faith in you is stronger today because of your faithfulness to me over the years. Help me not to forget you in the easier times of life but to always be prepared for the trials yet to come, May you find me faithful Lord to You and not falter from your way. May I stay true to your Word. May I never grieve your Spirit. Lead me Lord always in your Truth.ThankYou for your Faithfulness to me.
Patricia De'Bell says:
February 25, 2015 at 2:33 amI recently heard the song “Refiner’s Fire”, having not heard it for a while, which speaks not only of the desire to be Holy but also of the choosing to be Holy. What Freda has written here reminds me, again, of the need to make deliberate choices to be Holy, to be listening out for God’s “yes” and “no” throughout the day and to follow where He’s leading
Norman says:
February 25, 2015 at 10:16 amIt is a great blog and for me right now it reminds me that God is in the situation even when it appears that He is somewhere else. The voices do come to us when we are suffering that suggest God has left us or that our sin has brought a curse on us or something else that causes us to lose hope and to turn elsewhere for comfort. God is at work in the toughest of times.
Pat McRae says:
February 25, 2015 at 4:56 pm“But He knows the way I have taken when He tested me.”
This is a statement that resounds in me today. People see what you show them or what they want to see, as you go through a testing. Some see you strong and others see you silly and others don’t even realize you are in a testing time. But God sees the heart. He knows the thoughts before they become words. He knows the gratitude or lack there of for this time of testing. He knows when you will humble yourself and lean on Him and when you will stand strong in your own strength, and get to do the test one more time. God knows the gold that will be produced and how much dross will remain.
I have had a few of the Job testings in my life time. You know where everything is stripped away and you get to start at square one again. Whether the test was big or small there were always two plans in operation. The enemy wanted me defeated, depressed, discouraged and disallusioned. God wanted me free, fellowshipping, following and having fun. I learned lots about myself, God and the enemy during these times and found I came out a little closer to the Lord. Did I like the tests? No! Although I would of like to learn the lesson in a different classroom, God knew what it would take and what it will still take to get me to be ‘pure gold’.
I remember during one of my Job experiences my mom sent me a little note that said, “His testing produces gold.” It was sent to encourage and today it does encourage but at that time I really didn’t want to be any kind of gold I just wanted my life to make sense.
I often ask this question during my testings, or at least I use to. “Why me Lord?” I remember standing in the underground parking garage looking at the empty spot my car had sat in the night before. I looked around me wondering if I had parked it elsewhere and then realized it had been stolen. Of course my first reaction was totally self-centred “Oh great now I will be late for work, I will have to take the bus, do I even have money for the bus? And so it went with the final question in total frustration “Why me Lord?” And as I stood there so upset and actually mad, God gently whispered to me “Whose would you of liked them to take?” Wow! that set things straight in a hurry! As I looked around me I realized that if I leaned on Him I could make it but maybe the other owners would not know Him and have no one to lean on. I had to answer, “No ones, it will be ok because I know you will help me.” From self-centredness to others-centred in a moment of time. So needless to say when the testings come I have learned to hold that question because in my heart I know I would not wish the testing on anyone else. If I am not enjoying it, I still need to keep it because that is what love does, it bares up under all things, and I remember there will be yet another nugget of gold when it is through.
Today I am thankful that as I look back I see the gold produced. Oh there is still dross floating but my Daddy will continue to purify. I am thankful I don’t need to know where I am on the road of life because God knows where I am and where I am going and just how to get me there. I am also thankful that I am starting to treasure His Word, to decree and declare it over my life with authority.
No testing – no gold!
Testing – pure gold!!!!
Jim Holmes says:
February 25, 2015 at 5:56 pm“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:10-12 NIV
God knows me. There is “nothing hidden” from Him. He knows the deep of my heart. He has a set plan for my life. I’ve heard it said…that we are either slaves or servants. A servant knows what His Master is doing. As a servant we will closely follow in our Master’s steps. I will stay on the narrow path. A slave on the other hand is told, or beaten into submission. He can’t keep of the wide road, a road that leads to misery. As servants we joyfully serve. I can trust God on the throne of my life.
I choose to serve. I follow the path of Light. I keep His word (commands of His lips) before me. He is the Word of Life. He is my Treasure. Because He lives (and sits at the right hand of God, His Father), I too live (am made alive in Him) for He is my daily bread. He is alive in me. I know Him.
Thank you Jesus for being my Way, my Truth, and my Life. ☺
Sue Holmes says:
February 25, 2015 at 8:06 pmTwo things speak to me in today’s passage. The first speaks of choice. It reminds me of a line I heard recently from Ginny Owen, “It’s never the trial that makes you stronger. It’s what you do in the trial that makes you stronger.” There may be thousands of years between Job & Ginny but the lesson learned is the same. Ginny, blind since the age of 2, became an accomplished singer, song writer & keyboardist in spite of her trials. She didn’t just ‘get through’ her trial, she didn’t just survive her trial nor did she become a victim of it. Instead, she like Job, exemplified Romans 8:37, “Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.” How she this is seen in the words of one of her well-known songs (If You Want Me To):
“So when the whole world turns against me and I’m all by myself
And I can’t hear You answer my cries for help
I’ll remember the suffering Your love put You through
And I will go through the darkness if You want me to”
Secondly, I’ve found that there are many voices that try to speak into our lives, especially when it comes to illness, catastrophes & upsets. Voices that advise, voices that accuse & voices that encourage. To be fair these voices usually belong to well meaning people, sometimes close friends and they all believe they are right. But there is only one voice that will bring you through the fire. That voice belongs to the One who was in the fire with the 3 Hebrew boys. That voice belongs to the One who endured the fire of the cross so that I wouldn’t have to bear my cross alone. It’s that voice that I have learned to seek out. It’s His voice that speaks to my heart.
I am thankful for the fire (did I say that?). I am thankful for the testimonies of those who have endured the fire before us. And I am thankful for the One Voice that is always there, whether I hear Him or not. I am thankful for the times that He has rescued me when I veered off the path He set out for me. I am thankful that my past choices don’t determine my present & future path.
Susan Craig says:
February 26, 2015 at 5:50 pmChoices and Voices-love the rhyme in that!! Also love the words in the song-“I will go thru the darkness if you want me to.”
I remember a hymn I loved to play and sing when I was a teenager- “I’ll go where you want me to go ,dear Lord! O’er mountain or plain or sea. I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord! I’ll be who you want me to be.” When I sang that song, I put all my heart and soul into it and meant every word. I look back now and remember many times when these words were forgotten as I wanted my way in alot of things. I am thankful that God has forgiven past sins when we truely repent from them. Thanking the Lord for those words sung all those years ago and with so much of my heart in them. I am thankful that He knows how much I truely meant them as I sang them and I am thankful He did not leave me when I left Him to do my own thing. I still desire the words in that song for my life and it is never too late to follow that desire that God put into my heart all those years ago. Thank you Lord for never giving up on me and reminding me that I am always Your child-then,now and forever!!