The Heart That is Tested by Fire. Proverbs 17:3

There is one thing that is shared universally by people of faith- they will be tested. Some of the hardest sufferings to endure is not physical but the anguish of the heart.

“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord test the heart.” Proverbs 17:3.

CRUCIBLE
The crucible and furnace were designed on purpose to do a task, and God has designed a purpose in every test of our hearts.

FURNACE
The crucible and the furnace try the metal and make it pure. Only the extreme heat of a blasting fire can make silver or gold pure. Silver yields its impurities rapidly, but gold enters the furnace over and over to become pure. Some tests are like silver; they come and finish their purpose quickly; others are like gold and must be endured time and again.

TEST
Sometimes our tests are to expose our weaknesses, and sometimes to purify us. Just as a crucible tests and refines the metal, in the same way, our lives endure the fire of testing to reveal our shortcomings and to improve our quality. Like gold which becomes more pure and valuable; so the testing of our hearts will make us more precious, useful, and beautiful; through them, we grow and mature as we never would otherwise.

THE LORD
What a comfort that it is the Lord who tests our hearts! The Lord, who is so loving, all-wise, and all-powerful, has our good and best at the center of His plans for us. In our test, we can remember that He is in control. We may not understand why we go through such depth of testing, but we do understand He is bigger. We can and must trust in Him during the test.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Cling to our loving God in prayer.
• Search His word as never before.
• Recount His many blessings.
• Remind yourself of His love.
• Pray over the promises in the Bible.
• Declare to Him and others your trust in Him.
• Be honest before God and others.
• Accept the support of others.
• Thank God.
• Resolve by God's help to endure.
• Resolve to bless His name.

The laws of physics guarantee that silver and gold will purify when superheated in a crucible. If the crucible should tip over and the metal spill out, the results will be disappointment and loss. The metal that stays in the furnace becomes useful and made into a thing of beauty.

Let's be grateful that our trials are guided by a loving God and that we will become the treasure that we would not be otherwise in His hands.

(c) Adron 7/23/10

The Need to Stop And Look. Psalm 105:4, NIV

We live in a time that is rich in resources and services so we tend to rely on social structures and our own strength to find answers and help in our needy lives. Still, we ask, “Where can we go for help?” We are so busy coping with life that we forget to look to the Author of Life

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” Psalm 105:4, NIV.

This may sound elementary to a life of faith, but so often we forget to simply look to the Lord. We must remind ourselves to look to the One who is Savior, friend, and master; we must remind ourselves to find His strength to live.

LOOK OR SEEK
To "look" and to "seek" are two different things. A look is instant; you look while being in one place, and are easily satisfied with seeing.

To seek is more. You may go from place to place and seek; it takes more time and commitment. To seek involves your heart and it is to dig deeper and go farther. Our relationship with Jesus is both of these things at different times.

SEEK HIS FACE
In our trials, we are to "Seek his face." We need to seek a deeper intimate walk with our Savior in good times and bad. We must strive to know him personally and face to face. our lives should be full of intimate communion with Jesus,

Look to the Lord and seek the Lord daily by:

Reading the Word of God, the Bible.
Prayer.
Being quiet before Him, letting Him speak to your heart.
Meditating on Him.
Worship.
Service.

ALWAYS
"Always" is continuous and every time. We must not tire of looking to and seeking the Lord.

Sometimes we only seek Him when a crisis presses on us and then we seek the Lord for that issue, or a fear hounds our thoughts or a temptation draws us away. In those times and in times of peace we need to seek the Lord.

We are never done seeking His face. Salvation by faith it is only the beginning. We need a lifestyle of knowing Jesus better and more intimately today than yesterday. Seeking Jesus is going to take time, require sacrifice, and choices. God rewards those who seek him persistently. We'll find depths to our Lord to celebrate, beauties we'll never tire of, and so much more to appreciate and love.

There will never be a time that the Lord is not relevant. Make looking to him and seeking his face a daily- even moment by moment habit.

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Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above.

(c) Adron 2/24/10