Malachi 3:5   ‘And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness’.

DAILY READING  1 Corinthians 7:1-24; 1 Kings 20; Amos 4:4-13

In Australia, sugar cane is one of their main crops. Until the early 1940’s most sugarcane in Australia were cut by hand and then topped and loaded manually. However a time came when there was a serious outbreak of Weil’s disease (spirochaetal jaundice). This was a potentially fatal disease spread by rats in the sugar cane. As a result pre-harvest burning was adopted by farmers. They intentionally set the whole sugar cane fields on fire. And as the fire swept throughout the crop, it burned off diseases and also destroyed the dead useless parts of the sugar cane, thereby making it easier to cut and load the cane. The farmers also found out that burning the sugar cane before harvest raised the nominal daily output per cutter from six tonnes a day, to about nine tonnes. Also, the burning increased the yield of sugar recovered per ton of sugarcane and improved overall quality of the sugar produced. Therefore from World War II onwards, burning became standard practice and farmers acquired great expertise in burning limited areas without imperiling their neighbours’ crops or their own.

Just as these farmers discovered that burning the sugar canes produced better quantity and quality of sugar, sometimes in life we go through fire so as to become better and sweeter.

When the three Hebrew boys refused to bow down to the king’s golden idol, they were thrown into a fiery furnace. However, the fire that was meant to destroy them, only ended up making them better. The only thing that was burned in the fire were the cords that held them. Thus the fire separated them from their limitations, destroyed their bondage and they came out with a new confidence, and greater trust in God. Indeed, as long as God is with you, every trial ends in praise.

1 Peter 1:7 says ‘That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:’

All through the Scripture we see this principle. All of the great heroes of faith went through their “trial by fire” experiences, yet because God was with them, it all ended in praise.  The truth is that the fire is a necessary purification process for anyone who will be used by God.

Malachi 3:5 says ‘And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness’.

Gold is precious but until it passes through the refiner’s fire, it holds no value. Likewise, every one of us carries an enviable destiny, which must be processed through the fire for our real values to manifest. A refiner’s fire does not destroy that which is of value.  It only burns up the chaff. The fire melts down the bar of silver or gold, separates out the impurities that ruin its value, burns them up, and leaves the silver and gold intact. In the fire, what gets burned up are the chaff and the impurities in us. When you’re under pressure, when the fire is hot, that’s when impurities in your character show up. And if you will let God purify and refine you, you will come out better and brighter.

Perhaps today, it may seem as if you are passing through a ‘trial of fire’. In Isaiah 43, God promises that when we go through the fire He will be with us. When God is with you, the fire isn’t going to consume you; rather it’s going to refine you and set you free. It is God’s Presence that makes the difference. Therefore make every effort to draw closer to God in times of trials. Indeed though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil, when God is with us.

PRAYER: Lord, please grant me the grace to daily draw closer to You via Your Word.  By Your grace through every trial and temptation, I shall come forth better, sweeter, stronger, and wiser than ever before in Jesus Name..

QUOTE

When God places His hand upon a man in life nothing can come against him, this is because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.