Twenty-second Mountain Peak
"Behold i have refined thee, but not with silver; 1 have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10
THIS VERSE IS nobody likes to go through affliction. The Lord says: "I will refine thee" because He wants us to be holy, as He is holy. The highest aim of God is to make us partakers of His own holiness. Alas, we want to become holy like somebody else. That is why we have to go through many refining fires. It happens everywhere. When men want to have the best steel, the iron ore has to go through many fires. First, they take iron ore, which looks like ordinary earth, it is so full of sand and mud. It is first melted by a fiercely hot fire, and the iron goes to bottom, while the other things come to the top. Once again the iron is melted by very high temperature. Only then does the iron become steel, which is used for watch springs, and other purposes, Gold can only be refined by fire. It cannot be refined by soap and water. What is more, the fire must be beneath and above.
In the same way fire is used to purity petrol and other material. Whenever petrol is taken from the earth it looks dirty and filthy, and no one will think that the stuff has any real value. It must go first through a big furnace, and through strong heat the petrol is brought to the top. In the same way, silk, pearls and diamonds, have all to go through much pressure and suffering to make them what they are. So when God chooses us. He sets us a very high standard because He wants us to be holy and without spot, or blemish of any kind. He wants us to be far more glorious than even the angels, so He takes us through a furnace of affliction. How often we say: "God has forgotten us." When sickness increases and other trials come, we say: "O Lord, why You are keeping me in this condition for so long. I have done nothing wrong; I have attended every meeting and yet You are punishing me." It is not punishment, but a refining fire, so that we may attain the highest standard of holiness.
When once our sins are forgiven. He forgives them for ever. Let us overcome unnecessary self-condemnation, if we have done wrong. Let us confess, and be washed in His precious Blood, and our sins will be forgiven for ever. But trials, sufferings and afflictions are refining fires, to make us spotlessly holy and without blemish. That is how David was prepared by God. He did not rebel against God, but realized he was being prepared for a high position (Psa. 18:16-19). He came to a large and wealthy place (Psa. 16:10-12). Such is God's way of preparing us for our high vocation. You cannot learn that lesson from books, teachers or preachers. You may have the best of teachers to teach you the Word of God, but thai will not refine you. Without exception we all have to go through that refining. God uses different ways and different limes to refine each of us, but all of us must be refined in God's way only, and only thus can we attain to God's standard of holiness. All these refining fires remind us of His high standard, but we are satisfied only with other things. In case of Job, even though he offered sacrifices all the time, he did not know how to pray. It was only through affliction that he learned how to pray. Job 42:8. The friends of Job knew all about God, and they spake of Him in beautiful and wonderful terms. But they also did not know how to pray. God said to them, "You are foolish people. You don't know how to pray. I won't accept your prayers. You go to Job and he will pray for you. His prayer will be answered". How did Job learn to pray?. It was only through affliction. Nobody has ever gone through such refining fire as did Job, till his faith was strong in the Lord. All our refining fires are intended to increase our Faith and to bring us to a high standard of holiness in order that we may be without spot or blemish. So we must thank God for our affliction.
In the same way the Apostle Paul had to go through forty afflictions, as we read in 2 Cor. 6:4, 5, 8-10 and 2 Cor. 11:23- 28. If we put both the lists together, they are more than forty afflictions. It was through afflictions that Paul became a mighty vessel. I don't think God used anybody as He used this man of God. The Lord accomplished a very deep work in Paul and it was through all (hose refining fires, that the Lord refined him and taught him many deep truths. First the Lord took him to a desert, and then through refining fires, and through these things He was able to pour into him divine revelations and mysteries.