Old Testament: Job 22-24
Poetry: Psalm 41
New Testament: John 21
The process of refining gold or silver is very long and tedious, as they, when mined, are found with many impurities. To get rid of these impurities, these metals are heated to the extreme temperatures of the metal’s melting point. This allows the impurities to rise to the surface of the gold or silver, as the impurities are much less dense than the actual metal. The impurities can then be removed from the metal to the best of the ability of the refiner. After doing so, this process is restarted to continue trying to get rid of even more impurities that remain within the gold or silver.
Throughout the Bible, the testing of people’s faith is constantly compared to the refinement of metals, such as gold or silver. We all face many trials within our lives as we try to live out a life of faith. In James 1:2-4, it says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James tells us all that we must take joy in knowing that our trials and testing of faith produce a good result in us. For these difficult times create endurance, and endurance creates in you perfection and completion. Note that James did not say that we were going to encounter a singular trial to produce endurance, but instead stated that we would encounter various trials to achieve the result of perfection and completion.
Job knew the same thing that James did. He knew that the trials that he was facing were going to bring him forth to be more perfect and complete from his endurance. While we do not know the exact length of time Job suffered, we do know that he must have had great endurance to face all of his trials. In Job 23:10, he said, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job knew that he was going through a process of refinement. He was being made more perfect and complete, becoming a piece of gold with fewer impurities. Knowing that he was going through refinement didn’t make any of the trials less for Job, but it did give him hope for the end of them at which he would be a refined person, more like God.
Job is not the only human who has and will face refinement of their faith. Each and every one of us will go through trials that test our faith. In Isaiah 48:10, it says, “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Job was not put in an actual furnace of fire to be refined, and neither will we. But, we will all face the furnace of affliction in a way to refine our faith. Job was confident in the end result of his refinement by suffering. Are you as confident as Job that when the trials come you will stand in the end as a piece of refined gold?
-Kaitlyn Hamilton
Reflection Questions
- Is there a trial you have emerged from more “refined” than you were before? What did you gain through the difficult process? Can remembering that process and result help give you joy when you encounter the next trial?
- Sometimes, rather than being refined in a trial, people just melt, or the impurities seem to multiply. What makes the difference? How can you work towards using difficult times to improve and become more godly?
- What role does God take in your refining process?
Seek Grow Love 