Are you in some life situations right now that make you think of these verses?
I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. (Malachi 3:1-2)Do you feel like you are in the refiner's fire?
It's never easy.
It's not pleasant.
But it can be positive. And it can be hopeful.
Let's look at it together.
We learn as kids that we should not play with fire. But the fire mentioned in these verses is one that is purposeful -- it refines, and purifies. It melts down the metal, and separates out the impurities and "bad stuff" that would ruin the metal's value. It leaves the metal, whether silver or gold, in better shape than when the process began.
I had not noticed very much before, but look at the last four words of verse two . . . or a launderer's soap.
Truly God is very much like that, since He takes our sin filled hearts and lives and cleans them up; He makes us pure, and holy like Himself. It's the only way that it can happen!
These verses are not just words of warning, but they are also words of hope. The fires we go through are not for destruction. They are for refinement. For the betterment of our hearts and souls. To make us more like Him, Who came and died on the cross, a sinless Lamb of God.
Praise God He arose!
And like Rhoda in our studies last week, we should "constantly affirm that it is so."
These verses inspired me . . . won't you share something from your reading of the Word that will help all of us?
I read this in one of the devotions that come into my email. It isn’t exactly a verse of hope, but one that points to our very human nature.
ReplyDeletePsalm 78:42, “They did not remember his power — the day he redeemed them from the oppressor.” (NIV)
How easy it is to forget the power of God, even immediately after he’s redeemed us. The devotional was, in part, talking about the Israelites at the Red Sea. But it applies to me so often, as well.