“I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” (Zechariah 13:9)
Have you ever stopped and thanked the Lord for a wilderness you are in? A wilderness, similar to the one the Israelites found themselves wandering through for 40 years, refers to a difficult journey or a waiting period. The wilderness is where the Israelites’ faith was tested but also where they profoundly encountered God. We all at some point find ourselves in our own wilderness. It is often in that wilderness that God begins His deepest work in us. Just as He did with the Israelites, God uses the wilderness not to harm us, but to guide, shape, and refine us. On their journey, God guided them through a cloud by day and a fire by night. That demonstration of fire reminds me of the way we are refined by fire. Through our experiences in the wilderness, we too are able to uncover parts of God’s character we might not otherwise see. God is our Refiner. Just as silver is made pure by the fire, so we are purified by the Lord. David so beautifully wrote in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The Lord refines us to shape us closer to His likeness. It is the difficult times that force us to change and reminds us our need for Him. I encourage you to invite the fire of the Lord today. As James writes “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, for you know the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4) I pray His Spirit would fill us in the fire, that we would know He is always with us and is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
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