LETTING GO OF THE SLAG AND DROSS

 Deuteronomy 31:6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before  them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will  neither fail you nor abandon you.”

The Refiner’s Fire

“As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ (Malachi 3:3) She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.” Author Unknown

I was blessed by this story while I was going through my  chemo and radiation and felt as though I was going through the Refiner’s  fire. As I contemplated the obvious analogy of the story, I happened to  have been reading through.

Romans 5:1-5. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave  peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have  gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.5 And  hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out  into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” NIV

And as I prayed about this earlier during that time, this is what the LORD impressed upon my heart for me. 

Perhaps this will speak to you also.

Will you hang on to it and use it as your crutch and excuse to keep from hearing me and what I want of you?

Or will you push aside the waste and give ME glory?

Push aside the waste of your purification.

Push aside the waste of fear, hurt, pain, disappointment, sadness, anger, impatience, indifference, excuses, self.

Don’t wallow in the waste, not wear it as a badge of honour.

You don’t honour the waste. You honour ME.

Push aside any waste that keeps you from ME.

In the end, you will have moved from suffering to hope and your story will not be about the waste.

In the end you will boast of ME and MY goodness and give ME glory.”

Ask yourself…….

What waste are you handing onto?