God as silversmith
June 18th, 2007 ~ La Vida Iglesia
(I have a friend who is a serial e-mailer — everyone has one or two of those friends, right? They send everybody e-mail humor, cons, inspiration and supposed news bulletins that are usually bogus (”Send this e-mail to 3000 of your friends!!! Congress is passing a bill to tax churchgoers and casserole-makers up to $30,000 a year!!!!”). Well, since you can’t do a thing to impact the quality or stem the flow of e-mail, it’s best to just take them as they come. But this one I thought was better than most, and so I pass it along.)
***
Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was
being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it”!
If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
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June 18th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I’m here to verify the process. I did lost wax jewelry casting in high school.
Once you burn off the impurities the surface of the silver is like a mirror. Pretty cool imagery and metaphor. “Our God is a consuming fire”…but He does not consume US.
June 18th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
That’s a neat story. I like it when I actually get a forward that I like from someone :)
June 19th, 2007 at 5:17 am
s-p,
Oh good, it’s accurate. I liked the imagery in any case, but I’m glad if it’s also factual.
What I thought they were going for when I read the part about having to just sit there is that God doesn’t put us in the fire and then stand back from us so He won’t get burnt (sort of more like a blacksmith). He has to be very aware what the fire is doing. Which may be why people say that in the worst of times, God is “very” present, if you have eyes to see it.
Not that a lot of us wouldn’t settle for being slightly less purifed, but thank heaven, it’s not our call.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:18 am
Michelle,
Yep, it’s a surprise but a nice one. You never know with serial e-mails — sort of an electronic garage sale.