January 28, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act; for how can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.” (Isaiah 48.10-11)

“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, I AM a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20.3-6)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I want to continue with yesterday’s reflection by recognizing the end claim of verses 10 and 11: I will not yield My glory to another. God’s declaration of unyielding ownership and allegiance to those whom He had called into life and into divine purpose is without compromise. It cannot be refuted. Denial is not a refutation! God puts His claim on His people because He had invested His Spirit from the time of creation into them. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman whom He met at one of Jacob’s wells, “God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4.24) When David sings the declaration of “Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and breakers have swept over me,” as recorded in Psalm 42.7, he is speaking of the depth of God’s presence “in spirit and in truth” rescuing him from the depth of his despair and challenge. Even in Psalm 139. 7-8 (and beyond), David states with confidence, “Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.” The inescapable truth of God’s commitment to be with His people so they can be with Him is evident in his song. It guided his life’s experiences into “green pastures and still waters.” However, if David had not experienced affliction, then he would have not known the satisfaction of trusting in God, believing in God and following Him all the days of His life.

I want to be sure we understand the differences between “the refiner’s fire” and the “testing by affliction.” The “refiner’s fire reduces the rock which is perishable by heat into essential nothingness, leaving the ore to stand alone.” The “test by affliction” takes that ore and shapes it into a work of production and accomplishment. Consider first how steel came to be. It was made from iron ore and reduce into its essential element. However, iron left to itself as a stand alone object is subject to rust, corrosion and brittleness. Even those with an iron will cannot survive the test of time. But steel is not a stand alone element but a combination of elements tempered together. Refining producing iron. The combining of elements such as carbon, chromium and nickel to iron create steel. This “combining of materials” is like the “testing by affliction.” Those situations and circumstances in our lives which come by choice or by happenstance are blended into our life’s experiences. Their tempering makes us stronger. This is what God allows in our lives and uses for the purposes of strengthening our resolve, our conviction, our belief in Him and ourselves and our will to be one with God “as deep calls to deep.” This is why we must engage in discipleship as that which Jesus gave to His disciples. He took the rudimentary elements of the life experiences and the spirit which was within them and blended them together. Ultimately, He tempered them with the unrelenting “fire of the Holy Spirit” to meld them into a single object, a weapon of truth, a force of love and a community of faith. Those tests and lessons which He taught during His three years with them sharpened them and made them stronger.

This is what God declared was happening with the foreign and domestic exiles of Israel. The refining was done in His call of the people out of the darkness and chaos. He had infused them with the Spirit of His Word. He revealed Himself to them in His acts of deliverance to show His commitment to their calling and to their existence. Now, He was taking their life experiences, most of which they had chosen to put themselves through, to temper them into a mighty community which no force could stand against. But they had to have faith in God alone for it to be manifested. To allow them to experience the trials, hardships and negative consequences of seeking their own will be done was hard for God but necessary. Without them, the people would have been soft and useless in the world. They would have, and in most instances were, servants of other nations surrendering their will to foreign gods, powers and principalities. Being “hard” means resolved not dispassionate nor without compassion. That is the value of the double-edged sword which God declares is His Word. It knows which edge to use in which situations. Do we? Are we a God-tempered people? Or are we are people who fear the battle and choose rather to surrender to our own passions believing by them we will survive?

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ. AMEN.