Gold Refining

Sunday, 13 January 2008

Gold Refining

I have been thinking about what it means in Zechariah 13: 9...."And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God".  The dictionary says that refine means "to reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state: to free from dross or alloy, purify".  Looking back over our lives, and present circumstances, we can see how the Lord is in the process of refining us - hard pregnancies, sick children, career decisions, financial struggles, homeschooling difficulties, child discipline, providing understanding to our teens and the list can go on & on.  We have failed many, many times is seeing that the Lord was refining, instead, we viewed it as punishment for something we must have done.  We grumbled, complained, rebelled against the hardships instead of totally yielding ourselves to the One who knows what is best for us.  Just recently in Streams in the Desert Devotional, it talked about being hedged in and quoted James 1: 2-3. (look it up sometime). The devotional went on to say,  "God hedges in His own that He may preserve them, but oftentimes they only see the wrong side of the hedge, and so misunderstand His dealings."  All our trials are known to Him and He is watching to see if we will trust Him wholly through it all.  Lord, forgive us when we have failed so miserably in trusting you, in not allowing ourselves to be refined with joy. 

• We are a homeschool family. We housechurch with 4 other families.  We enjoy:  growing  a garden, raising grass-fed meats, reading, playing games, fellowshipping with old & new friends and learning more & more of what it means to live in the New Covenant.