But the God of all grace,
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while,
make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 1 Peter 5:10
Job knew what is was like to be refined,
somehow God revealed to him the purpose of his misery
But he knoweth the way that I take:
when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 33:10
It does help to know there is a purpose for what we go through
and those difficulties we face
If we commit our lives to Jesus and choose to follow Him,
He is going to clean the dross out of us,
those things that interfere with our ability to be close to Him
Sometimes it is quite painful either emotionally or physically
or otherwise because we are in this world,
our desires and our worldly lusts are never satisfied
Hell and destruction are never full;
so the eyes of man are never satisfied. Proverbs 27:20
Without suffering, we will be less than
Less than we can be to serve Him, to know Him
We also will have wordly lusts interfering in our walk with Him
Who wants to welcome suffering?
It sounds like a terrible idea
Once we have committed our lives to Him,
He takes as much as we will give Him and sometimes that is painful
I saw an image this morning
There were many ovens
The ovens symbolized those
who had whole-heartedly given their lives to our Lord
Jesus was tending to each one, purifying and molding
Who would tell the Lord how to do something?
Will you question Me concerning the work of My hands?
Yes, I mean, No
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it,
What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?
or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker,
Ask me of things to come concerning my sons,
and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. Isaiah 45:9-11
Suffering brings us into a humble state
Humility seems unattainable
But we can make strides toward humility before God
Step by step, allowing Jesus to have more of our desires,
being less and having Him be more
Let Him have His way, surrender yours