The Refiner

I don't know about you, but submission doesn't come easily to me.  No one likes to be told what to do.  However if we want to please the Lord then we have to learn to submit to Him.  This is still in the learning stage for me...submission to the Refiner, God.

Malachi 3:3a & 4a  "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver...then shall the offering...be pleasant unto the Lord."

This passage is speaking about God's judgement on Israel, but I want you to see the application to my life that God showed me.  A few years ago I was in the hospital and while there my kidney's failed.  My spirit was crushed and hurting, I didn't understand why all these things were happening.  As I read this passage one evening I saw the reason...it was to purify me.  I started to think about the job of a refiner.  He places the silver in the hottest part of the fire because He knows that's where the best results will come from.  He holds on to that silver, never leaving it or taking His eyes off it.  Because He is watching closely, He can tell the exact moment that it's done and needs to be taken from the fire.  The silver is a finished vessel when He can see His reflection clearly reflected back to him.

I suddenly saw God as the refiner and purifer of my soul.  God knew just how much heat to apply through the fires of suffering and trials.  He knew just when enough heat had been applied, because He could see His image reflected in my life. 

There are many times that I forget this lesson and I find myself fighting the fires of purification that are sent into my life by a loving and all-knowing God.  I always want the easy way, the path of least resistance, but that doesn't build spiritual stamina and strength.  I have to keep reminding myself that God's ways are better then mine...He can see the end and knows what I need in order to get there victoriously bringing glory to Him in the process.

Isaiah 55:8 & 9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

That night in the hospital I wrote this prayer in the margin of my Bible.

     "Oh Lord, make me a vessel that you can use.
     Help me to trust that as the Refiner, You are holding
     me and making something of my life that You can
     use for Your honor and glory.  Amen"

There are many times that I still resist the fire from the trials, but in order to become a sweet smelling offering in the service of the Lord I need to remind myself daily that I am but a vessel in the Master's hand.

 

Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

 

Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master today!

Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,

As in Thy presence, humbly I bow.

 

Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me, I pray.

Power, all power surely is Thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

 

Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway!

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me.

 

                                                               Adelaide A. Pollard