Psalms 66:12
Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. [KJV]
Gold is tested and purified by fire; it is refined by fire. Fire is traditionally made by burning wood. Now, while the wood makes fire that refined the gold, the wood itself is turned into ashes. While God is beautifying the gold, the price of this beauty is the ashes that the wood is getting turned into. In other words, gold is beautified for ashes.
It is inevitable that a man of God will go through challenges. Actually, as often as God wants to refine a man of God, it is through challenges that He will do so. The challenges come in four forms.
a) The wilderness:
This is a state of life, where you are doing everything the right way, but getting no result. It is a place where you can be the greatest encourager of everyone, but you yourself see no impact of what you are preaching. It is a period of time where you pray for everybody and their things go well, but you remain in a place that looks like stagnancy. In this period of time, God mostly provides an exact quantity of what you need to survive; equivalent to manna during Israelite's journey through the wilderness.
The wilderness is always the first place God sends you before He commissions you. Jesus after being baptized, was led by the Holy Spirit, into the wilderness (Luke 4:1). So, it is actually the Holy Spirit the leads people into the wilderness. The children of Israel after being baptized in the red sea, were led into the wilderness. The next step after every baptism is the wilderness. Wilderness is a place where every seed you plant looks like a waste. It is a place of hardships, and challenges that may force you to murmur against God. But blessed are those who are able to keep their mouths from murmuring, for it is they they will see the Promised Land.
b) Many waters:
These are times of refinement through washing or what some versions of the Bible call, purging (Ps 51:2). It is good to note that unlike the wilderness where it is the Holy Spirit that leads you there, many waters situations are most of the times brought about by our iniquities and transgressions. It is a period of time characterized by situations that are drowning. So much so that you look pretty good from outside, but deep within you are dying or feel like you are dying. Everybody looks at you and thinks you've made progress, but deep inside, you are ready to exchange that for something else called joy and peace (Ps 51:8)
c) Valley of the Shadow of death:
This is what we call "depression" today. This is a period of loneliness and unexplainable fear that almost make you look and sound paranoid, if you dare speak them out. This is what may lead many, even believers to take their own lives, because, this period makes you feel unwanted, alone, worthless and better out of the picture than in the picture. It is a period characterized by a lot of lies from the devil and calls to give up. In this period, every advice you seek shows you how better it would be to throw in the towel than to keep on fighting. David says, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The way to overcome this level is to replace fear with faith. Every time fear speaks, you reply back with faith. Every time fear knocks, you send faith to open the door. Always remind yourself, that F.E.A.R is either an acronym of "Face Everything And Rise" or "Forfeit Everything and Run".
d) Fire:
These are painful moments characterised by real pain which could be either physical or emotional. This could be due to disease, accident, heartbreaks, betrayal, etc. This period is mostly brought about by close people and powers from without and beyond us. Most of these situations are characterised by events beyond your control, things that you could not avoid, which regardless and that notwithstanding painful beyond comprehension.
Those that contribute to this fire, that makes it hotter, are the wood that is turned to ashes while the gold which is you is being refined. This is why it is not good to be part of what is making a man of God or a servant of God go through pain. Because while God will use this season to refine them to the best quality of who they are, you on the other hand will slowly be turning into ashes through the same process.
The Bible says, "Because I am your savior, I gave Egypt, Ethiopia and Sheba as ransom for your sake" (Isa 43:3). For every man of God you see refined by fire, there are men or a man that was turned into ashes as his ransom. For every bad season you are going through because someone messed you up, betrayed you, broke your heart, sold you out, threw you under ther bus, sabotaged your project, etc., there are people that will be turned into ashes for the same and by the same. God does not just give us beauty, the tragedy of God-given-beauty is that it comes at the cost of ashes. Ashes may look like a cheap price to pay; if today I told you that I will sell you something. And when you ask at how much I tell you, bring me a sack of ashes. Yoh may be tempted to think, "That's quite cheap and doable", until you sit down to calculate the amount of wood that would produce a sack of ashes.
There are so many people crying to God for beauty, and asking God when their brighter day will come, but they are yet to produce the amount of ashes enough to buy their beauty! People who are too careful, too protected and too cagey to avoid pains from betrayers and fake friends, take a long time to get the God given beauty in store for them. Until you're mourning, broken hearted , of heave heart, this scripture will not apply to your life: To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified (Isa 61:3).
May God bless you, may God keep you, may God lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
Kommentarer