Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [161] Tested by Fire

 

Today's devotional is written by Pastor Roy Summers

Fire is Good!

Fire is a double-edged sword: sometimes it devours, sometimes it blesses. As the earth warms up, forest fires are on the increase, because the moisture content of the forest declines. 

But fire also purifies. Forest fires bring new life as old wood is cleared and hard seed shells crack open. Fire purifes metals and in history has allowed cities to be rebuilt with better and safer ground plans. The fireballs of Hiroshima and Nagaski, we are told, saved countless other lives and shortened a bloody war.

Fire is in that narrow category of things that both hurt and help - at the very same time.

Our memory verse for the day is this:

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)

Job's Four Fires

Dear old Job faced at least four fiery trials. First, he lost (almost) all of his possessions. Second, he lost all his family. Third, he lost his health. 

The fourth fire we read between the lines: his so called "friends" told him that all of his troubles were merely bad Karma! He was getting what he deserved. And so he has to defend himself before his own "friends." No wonder we call people like that "Job's Comforters!"

We might even add a fifth fire - Job felt hard done by God and wished himself dead. 

Few people will pass through such a number and intensity of fires in such a short span of time. What does he say in the middle of them all?  

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)

Joy in Knowledge

Job has a deep understanding about his trials, which we need to grasp about ours.

He understood that the Lord knew all about his fiery trials. If only Job had known as much as we the reader know; the Lord more than knew, he had given explicit permision for each one of them. Nothing happens to His children without his permission.

Job also knew that he was being tested, tried, proven, examined. He understood that there was a divine purpose behind the test. This was no random experience he was passing through, but a spiritual test. 

What helpful knowledge! Without knowing that trials are both allowed by God and have a divine purpose we are left with the only alternative which is chance - which results in empty despairing purposelessness! 

But, note, too, that Job lived in hope. He saw life beyond the trial. One day he would become purified by this trial, as when dross is separated from the gold by fire.

That gave him hope. He might not understand the trial, but he believed it would purify him.

Summing it All Up

Name one of the trials you are passing through. A health trial? A mental health trial? A spiritual temptation? Financial woes? Family troubles? Marriage problems? Do you think of that fire as Job thought if his?

Remind yourself that God knows all about the trial.

Remind yourself that God has allowed this test for your good.

Trust and be encouraged - even excited? - by the fact  that you will come out of it more refined, more Christ-like, more holy, more pure.

 "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)

A SONG FOR THE DAY

I don't know if the author of our song for the day based the song on our memory verse, but he could have.

Purify My Heart,
Let Me be as Gold and precious Silver.
Purify My Heart,
Let Me be as Gold, pure Gold.

Refiner’s Fire,
My Heart’s one desire
Is to be… Holy;
Set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be… Holy;
Set apart for You, My Master,
Ready to do Your will.

Purify My Heart,
Cleanse Me from within
And make Me Holy.
Purify My Heart,
Cleanse Me from My Sin, deep within.

Eugene Greco

Worship HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our all-knowing Father in heaven,

Teach us today that you know all about our lives, incuding every trial. Remind us that you have good purposes to accomplish through them, and help us to have the confidence, as Job did, that good, even gold, will come out of the trial.

So teach us to submit ourselves under your mighty hand,

For we ask these things in Jesus' Name,

Amen

Photo by Ludomił Sawicki on Unsplash