Fiery Trials
One more picture of fire from the Scriptures this week, friends, And it comes from Isaiah 43.
God says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” And so difficulties in life are pictured as flood waters.
But then we hear these words of God. “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burnt. The flames will not set you ablaze”.
God Walks Through the Fire With Us
According to the Bible, difficulties, struggles, trials and tribulations are like fires in our lives.
Are you walking through a fire at the moment? Do you need to hear these words from God saying “as you walk through the fire, you won't be burnt. The flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God", verse 3 says, “ the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” I'm with you and I will protect you as you walk through the fires.
Refined By Fire
In fact, listen to the words of Peter in 1 Peter 1: 6-7. “You greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
He says, Your faith is even greater than gold. Gold is refined in fire, but it still perishes. But, he says, you are refined in fire and you will not perish, but have eternal life in Christ.
The earth is a place of fiery trials and temptations and troubles. But these things refine us, they purify us, they help us become more like Christ.
Can we greatly rejoice in the fires that we are walking through because we know that our faith is being refined? Can we suffer the grief of many trials with a smile because we know that Christ is working in us as we walk those fiery roads?
God Sends Us Into Fires
Maybe when Jesus said that the earth is going to be filled with fire and how he wishes it were kindling, he was saying, “My people are going to grow. They are going to be greatly refined through the fiery trials they go through. “
Not content to leave us comfortable, but unrefined, our God sends us into the fire with a promise that we won't be burned or scorched, but we will be refined.
And so my friends walk through your fire today with the knowledge that he is with you.
