REFINED BY AFFLICTION

"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." (Isaiah 48:10).

 

"And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness." (Malachi 3:3).

 

Once a Christian has submitted his/her life to God, the heavenly Father begins a process of purging and purifying, of training and chastening, which is meant to remove from them all self-will, and transform them into the image of Jesus Christ.  There is one word which I think best describes this process and the effect that it has on the individual that is exercised by it, and that word is refined.

 

The Word of God is full of the history of men and women who, by faith, placed their lives in God's hands and, as a result, went through this process of becoming useful, spiritually mature, children of God.  They accomplished God's divine purpose on earth and left a living testimony behind them that has blessed and encouraged many generations of believers ever since.  Even today, the stories of these faithful men and women quicken faith in those who read of their deeds and believe.  All of these saints of old were common folks like you and me.  They all had to be purged, chastened, and taught by God the Father; and more often than not, the instrument that God chose to use in their lives to accomplish this refining is "the furnace of affliction."  One of the best examples of God's refining work in an individual is the life of the Jewish patriarch Jacob. 

 

When Jacob and his twin brother Esau were born, God said to their mother Rebekah, "The elder shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:12).  So, from their birth, it was established that God would bless Jacob over his brother Esau, who was born just moments before him.  Later in life, Rebekah undoubtedly shared this word from the Lord with Jacob, the son whom she favored.  When Esau returned from hunting one day and saw that Jacob had prepared a meal, he readily gave up his birthright to Jacob for just a bowl of stew because he was so famished.  From that point it became clear to Jacob that the dominion was his. 

 

Now God had spoken concerning His purpose for Jacob, and that should have been sufficient for him to trust and wait upon the Lord to fulfill it.  After all, he had the testimony of his grandfather Abraham and how he had waited so long for the promised seed to be born to him and Sarah his wife.  God proved Himself faithful even when it appeared that he and Sarah were too old and unable to conceive children.  Jacob's father Isaac certainly had told him many times that he, Isaac, was that promised seed.  Through him and his offspring God would raise up a people as numerous as the stars of heaven.  He also must have heard the story of how Abraham had tried to fulfill the promise in his own way by having a child with Sarah's handmaid Hagar - and he knew how that turned out!  Jacob was a clever man, however.  When the time came for him to receive his father's final blessing, he agreed to his mother’s plan to deceive his dad and fulfill God's purpose through his own deception.  He should have waited upon God instead to fulfill His sure Word in His time and manner.  Because of his "cleverness" and self-dependence, his deception worked great wrath in his brother Esau, and Jacob was forced to flee from his home and family and go to his uncle Laban's house in Padanaram.

 

On his way to Padanaram, God appeared to Jacob in a dream and showed him a ladder set upon the earth and reaching to heaven, and on this ladder the angels of God were ascending and descending.  What a revelation!  God made it very clear to Jacob that access to Himself was the work of His hand only - none of man's methods would avail him to reach to God.  This vision was a glimpse of Jesus Himself, the Ladder of God which opens a portal to the Father.  Jesus Himself alluded to this story when He told Nathanael, "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:51).  In this place that Jacob named Bethel (the house of God), God spoke to Jacob and told him, "I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." (Genesis 28:15).

 

Oh, beloved, can you hear the voice of your Father speaking these words to you also?  The Lord has said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5).  God has chosen us, and called us, to work His will in our lives.  We are never alone; God will not forsake us!  His promises to us are steadfast and sure!  Why is it, then, that when we're amid turmoil, we so quickly assume that He's not with us?  Can't we see that it is through our day-to-day struggles that we learn to hear His voice and wait patiently on His working in our lives?  Even the seemingly insignificant hassles of life which we think God isn't interested in become opportunities for Him to mold His character in us and prepare us for our greater destiny.  After all, if we can't overcome in the "little" things now - showing patience, graciously taking criticism, suffering unjust actions against ourselves without losing our cool, etc. - how do we expect to endure when our faith is tried by the fires of persecution and tribulation that lie ahead?

 

Jacob reached his uncle Laban's home and served him for many years by tending his flocks in exchange for the hand of Laban's daughters.  During all his years of service, God was refining Jacob into the servant that He wanted him to be.  God wanted Jacob to see his own weakness but also realize how mighty he could be through Him.  After 20 years of service to Laban, Jacob finally departed to return to Canaan.

 

On his way to Canaan, Jacob had another encounter with God.  At the brook of Jabbok, he wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord until the Lord reached out and touched Jacob's thigh and made him lame.  From that time forth it was to be a reminder of his own weakness and fallibility, but also of God's sure and unfailing power and purpose.  He was slowly learning that it was God Who gives strength and dominion.  His grace would always be sufficient for His strength is made perfect in weakness (see 2 Corinthians 12:9).  After Jacob was wounded, every time he walked or tried to use that leg, it affected him; and he remembered his weakness.  So it is with us.  Once God deals with us in an area, we quit wrestling with Him and trying to work it out in our own power.  Then we find that He is more than able to work what He wants in us.  We are forever reminded of that encounter when we are tempted to handle things on our own.  Through everything that Jacob suffered, he became settled, mature, and refined.

 

"Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word." (Psalm 119:67).  God has said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," and, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."  (Isaiah 55:8 and Proverbs 14:12).  Once we belong to the Lord, it is His desire to continue to reveal His nature to us.  The carnal, natural mind is not subject to God nor to His ways and never will be.  Our ways, no matter how noble they may seem, are in opposition to God's ways.  "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7).  This is why, when we are born again, God places His own Spirit in us to reveal His heart to us.  "For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Corinthians 2:10).  Once we are saved, we do not become perfected overnight.  Little by little, God teaches us His ways; and we begin to mature spiritually as He sheds His light into our hearts and minds.  Jesus said of the Spirit, "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment...I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16:8,12,13).  Through the Holy Spirit, therefore, and the things which we suffer, we learn that God's way is indeed the best way.

 

It would be nice if we could just hear His voice and walk in His will perfectly without ever straying or wavering.  However, it takes melting, and it takes breaking to flow into God.  Affliction often teaches us that we can't trust in the flesh or in temporal things but must rely on the unfailing Word of God.  Be very sure that this is the path of every child of God - you are not alone!  After we come through our storms, God will "make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." (1 Peter 5:10).  We will be able then to say with the psalmist, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes." (Psalm 119:71).

 

As we come through each trial, we grow stronger for the next.  We begin to look for God's hand and His will in everything that befalls us and to "acknowledge Him in all our ways."  Then, when we can view the things that come into our life not as hindrances to our growth or our spirituality, but rather as opportunities whereby we may be made more like Jesus, then we can say that we are learning to walk with God.

 

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." (James 1:2-4).  This passage always seemed to be a paradox to me when I would read it.  I found it difficult to pass through some trial or temptation with a big ear-to-ear grin, trying hard to express my "joy."  Well, one day the Lord let the scales fall from my eyes so that I could more fully understand and appreciate this passage.  What the Lord wishes to teach us here isn't that we should joy in the "divers temptations" - for they are difficult - but in the "knowing this."  Knowing what exactly?  Knowing that the trying of our faith is not a wasted work, but our trials are building spiritual fortitude in us.  We don't have to be like those who have no hope, but we can come out of our struggles richer than we went in.  We can count it joy because God is still on the throne!  His eye is ever upon the righteous and His ears are open to our cry.  We're in His hands, and not at the mercy of circumstances!

 

"But let patience have her perfect work." (James 1:5).  Too many times, we try to run away from the affliction or the trial in our life.  We cry out to be delivered immediately before the Holy Spirit can work perfectly in us.  Sooner or later we must pass that way again to learn the spiritual lesson that only affliction can teach.  There was a reason that the Israelites had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness.  Had they trusted God to begin with, they would have entered the Promised Land a whole lot sooner!  If we believe and endure, God will perform His good pleasure in our life, and we will come through a little more perfect and entire.

 

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5).  You say that you don't understand what the Lord is trying to teach you, or work in your life?  Ask Him!  He won't reproach you!  He wants you to know His will.  Oftentimes we're so set in our ways that He really must shake us to get us to see something of ourselves.  We pray for more love, more peace, more faith, or more patience, and then act surprised when something comes along to try these things and give us the opportunity to grow in Christ.  If we desire love, God may send someone very unlovable into our lives.  We can see then how limited our own love is and how unlimited is God's supply of love through Jesus Christ.  If it's patience that we desire - look out!  No matter what it is that we lack, or where we are relying on our own strengths instead of God's, He will allow the heat to be turned up so that our impurities will float to the top where He can skim them away.  Why?  Because more than anything else, God wants us to realize that in ourselves we can do nothing that will be valuable to the Kingdom of Heaven.  OUR righteousness is SELF-righteousness, and it's like filthy rags to the Lord.  We must not trust in what we can do, but we must discover Christ as our very life and the source of our fruitfulness.  HE is our love; HE is our peace; HE is our patience.  In fact, He is our everything.  "But of Him [God] are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30,31).  Christianity is simply the process of dying to self and allowing God to replace our old imperfect life with Jesus' perfect life.  Ours is a God Who raises the dead and makes that possible which before was impossible!

 

Moses was one whom God called for a great work.  There was some refining, though, that the Lord had to accomplish before He could use him for His ultimate purpose.  Moses surely had a burden for what God was calling him to do, but he had his own ideas about how to accomplish God's will.  When Moses saw an Egyptian striking one of the Hebrews, Moses took matters into his own hands and killed the Egyptian.  Then, the next day, as he was trying to break up a fight between two Hebrews, the one who was at fault said, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?  Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:14).  Moses then knew that he had made a mistake!  Many well-intentioned brothers and sisters have tried to work things out in their own efforts only to learn later that God was not directing them at all.  They end up causing a lot of needless problems for themselves and for others as well.  Oh, how we need to learn to cease from our own labors in order to let the Lord work through us!  Moses was forced to flee from the country and sojourn in the land of Midian for 40 years.  While he was there, though, God met with him and refined him for the work that He had for him to do.

 

Moses was watching sheep for his father-in-law, Jethro, when the Lord appeared to him on the backside of the desert.  You know the place.  It’s that dry place where we often meet God free from other distractions.  It’s where we come to the end of our own ways and relinquish control to God.  It was there that the Lord revealed Himself to Moses in a burning bush.  And Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." (Exodus 3:3).  The thing that attracted Moses to the site was not just a bush on fire, but a bush on fire that was not being consumed by the flames!  As Moses approached, God spoke to him out of the bush saying, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." (Exodus 3:5).  It was then that God revealed Himself to Moses and told him of the purpose and calling that He had for his life.  Beloved, we must meet God in such a way as to understand the consuming nature of His Holy Spirit.  We must learn that it is His will to burn away the sin and dross from our lives and yet leave us whole - the "bush" intact.  This is the only way in which we can approach God, for He is a consuming fire.  This then is holy ground indeed!  This is where we learn to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him.  God's fire replenishes and regenerates life at the same rate that it consumes.  He burns away our bitterness, lust, envy, pride, strife, and all the works of the flesh, and replaces them with Himself and the fruits of His righteousness.  It is all a matter of faith, however.  It depends on our willingness to yield ourselves to Christ and believe that He can transform us.  John the Baptist spoke of Christ when he said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:11,12).  The threshing floor is another picture of the place of affliction where the chaff is loosened from the good grain and blown away to be burned.

 

Before Moses could be mightily used of God, he had to be refined to the point where he could recognize that God's way was the best way.  After God had proven him in the wilderness, Moses was not so eager to do things as hastily.  He had learned the importance of waiting on the Lord.  Then, he could understand and trust God's will and know why God had dealt with him the way that He had.  Through everything, Moses was a willing vessel wanting God's will above his own and chose "…rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." (Hebrews 11:25).

 

As James 1:5 tells us, God will give us the wisdom that we need to understand what He is working in our lives.  That word of wisdom will give us hope and faith which will comfort us in all our trials.  "Remember the Word unto Thy servant, upon which Thou hast caused me to hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy Word hath quickened me." (Psalm 119:49,50).  God's Word is a light in the darkness and a lamp that will illuminate our pathway. 

 

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." (James 1:6).  We must not waver in our faith toward God.  He is working everything together for good in our lives.  There is method and purpose to all that He does.  We may not like everything that the Father allows to enter our lives but be very sure that He is able to take each difficult trial and weave it into the great tapestry of His divine plan.  Some things are very hard to understand in the present and are more difficult than others.  Those things do not change Who God is, or what we know of His great love for mankind.  We may have to wait until we see Him face to face in order to comprehend some of those things, but there is much today that we can understand and embrace.  He who has learned to trust in the Lord can say with Job, "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10).

 

"Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away." (James 1:9,10).  God does not deal with us all in the same manner.  Knowing our weaknesses and our faults, He allows just the proper amount of heat that is necessary to refine us.  The brother of low degree may be victorious in his common estate, but perhaps he needs to learn true humility through being exalted; or the rich, perhaps he needs to be brought low so that he can learn not to trust in uncertain riches.  Let them both rejoice!  Almighty God is perfecting His own nature in them; and, in each case, He knows what it takes to do that.  The Father's eye never leaves the crucible.  He allows just enough heat to release the dross, but not enough to endanger the process.  The apostle Paul said, "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." (Philippians 4:12).  How did Paul come to know these things?  He was instructed everywhere and in all things by the Spirit of God working in Him.  In this way he came to understand that he could indeed do all things through Christ Who strengthened him. (see Philippians 4:13). 

 

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man." (James 1:13).  Let's be clear.  God does not send temptation or trial into the lives of His children.  He does allow these things, however, in order that we may be perfected.  In the world we are going to have trouble, but Jesus said, "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).  Strong winds that blow against the trees make them stronger in the long run. They even help prune out the dead branches.  Satan is like a roaring lion: he seeks to kill, steal, and destroy the children of God.  Yes, we may bend under the enemy’s onslaught, but we will not break.  The storms may reveal some "deadwood" in our lives that needs clearing out, but that will only make us healthier in the end.  It is not the Father's will that we be destroyed, only that we be purified. 

 

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.  Do not err, my beloved brethren." (James 1:14-16).  It is our lusts that lead us astray, and it is these same lusts of the flesh that God expects us to overcome through Christ Jesus.  They only work spiritual death in us.  It is the lust of the flesh that have brought on the world’s corruption, pollution, and depravity. (2 Peter 1:4).  It is through our Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness that the world will find escape and salvation. 

 

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5,6).  These verses are ones that we should learn to live by every day.  If we do, we will not have to be goaded and coaxed every step of our pilgrimage on this planet.  We will learn to recognize the Lord's voice as we commune with Him and walk with Him.  God has said, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.  Be not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.  Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about." (Psalm 32:8-10).  We need to be sensitive to our Father's voice.  Oh, how He wishes to speak to His people!  We're the losers if we neglect to hear from Him.  As we progress in knowing the Lord, we should be more aware of His leading, and more fearful of relying on our own feelings and ideas.  Time is short, and the days are dark, and getting shorter and darker.  We need a zeal for God - a passion to rid ourselves of everything that would hinder our spiritual growth and fellowship with Christ.  If we draw close to Him, He will draw close to us.  The refiner knows his job is done when he can look into the metal and see his own reflection there.  God's work in us is complete when He can look on us and see only Jesus. 

 

One final word: I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that all affliction comes because of some sin in our lives that God wants to purify.  We have been made subject to vanity and being found in sinful flesh we must humble ourselves and become obedient to God.  Even Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered.  Trials, temptations, and afflictions may come for various reasons besides our refining, although they always make us better in the end regardless.  As we endure these things, they also can have a positive effect on others who are watching us.  I was drawn to the Lord as the result of witnessing someone go through a trial with great grace.  I thought, "If God can change a man so thoroughly on the inside that he can show such grace in the face of persecution, maybe God can change me as well."  As death works in us, God is able to minister life to others through the resurrection power of Christ.  Our faithfulness works faith in others. 

 

We all must go through this refining process.  Let us not judge one another, therefore, when we see our brothers and sisters going through struggles.  Instead, let's pray for one another, and support one another, knowing that we are all in need of our Father's instruction.  May God grant us grace to endure the refining that He brings us through, and to recognize the purifying effect that it can have in our lives.