The Refiners Fire

“10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

David prayed this prayer as a plea to be restored to a right relationship with God after his sin with Bathsheba and the resultant murder of her husband Uriah. Many of us have prayed a similar prayer because we recognize that the way we have been living our lives has not been honoring God. I am curious if we really know and understand what we are asking God to do with us and in us.

When we first receive Jesus as our Savior, God see us as being redeemed by the blood of Christ. This means that in His eyes, we are as perfect as we need to be because we are covered by the blood and our sins are cleansed “22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (Colossians 1:22). The prophet Isaiah said "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18). In essence, He no longer sees us; He instead sees His Son Jesus, or to be more accurate; He sees the blood of Jesus that covers our sins.

Being covered by the blood does not free us from the temptations of sin because our sin nature that once controlled us, is still with us and it will always be a part of us. When we ask God to create a clean heart within us, we are literally asking Him to remove from us the desire to sin. This can be a lifelong process because our human nature is naturally resistant to the things of God. God desires obedience of us, not sacrifice (Ref. 1 Samuel 15:22). We must surrender our will to Him and walk in obedience. This surrender is not meant to be a “bending” of our will but a total and willful surrendering of it. It must become our desire to be and do as Christ wishes for us.

How does God achieve this goal in us? He does it by a refining process that removes the impurities from our lives. His word refers to the same process that a silversmith uses to refine silver in Malachi 3:3. The following story illustrates this point perfectly:

Malachi 3:2-3 (NKJV)
"But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap."
"He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; …"

A lady went to watch a silversmith, to get understanding on this verse. The silversmith 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 he 'sits as a refiner and purifier of silver'.

She asked the silver smith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. 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 even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silver smith, 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 God has His eye on you.
Through the fire, He looks at you and He sees His reflection. (Author unknown)

We pray and ask for God to create in us a clean heart; God answers our prayer in ways we will not understand unless we are totally submissive and endure with joy the refining process that He takes us through. James tells us: “ 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

As long as we are breathing, God will not be through with us. He will bring us out of the fire when He sees His Son, fully reflected in our lives!

In Christ,
Lighthousejohn