Refiner & Purifier Of Silver

I got the following email from Debbie (my 2nd mother) the other day and it was just what I needed to read.  It really hit home and helped me to put in perspective that this life wasn’t meant to be easy all the time.  Without trials and tribulations how are we ever going to grow and progress.  And sometimes when I’m in the midst of a hardship, I forget that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that the trial I am going through has a purpose.  Even the only perfect person on Earth, Jesus Christ, was tried.  Anyways, read the great story below and hopefully it can help someone reading it like it helped me.

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 were 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 sits 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 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 Heavenly Father has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you. 

 

“Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.”