Refine gold in me

Several things today popped up about being refined. I listened to a sermon this morning about digging deep into your thoughts and motivations then got home and started reading devotions. The first book I picked up is called Everyday Life in Bible Times. I haven't picked up this book for months. It is a beautiful book of pictures and rich descriptions of things, terms, and concepts in the Bible. I started where I left off last time I read it. The word was smelt (to refine metal). Next, in my chronological Bible, I am to a grouping of Proverbs full of verses about examining motives and the heart and references to refining.

Proverbs 16:2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Proverbs 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but the Lord tests the heart.

Proverbs 27:21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,
but people are tested by their praise.

I don't know about you, but when I see the same words or ideas repeated like this, I TRY to take notice. That is what this blog post is about, me taking notice and sharing what I notice.

Gold ore:

1) Silver is refined in a crucible, gold in a furnace. A crucible is a container that will withstand the heat needed (1,763 Deg F for silver!!) For temperatures this high they'd have to use a furnace.

2) The high temperatures are for melting the silver and the gold (or other metal in ore) to release it or recover it.

3) The process of refining takes several steps, or rather several repeats of the same steps - melt silver or gold, skim off the slag or dross (waste material) and repeat until there is no more dross.

4) Refining is extracting the valuable metal from the ore thus increasing the value of the metal by removing the impurities.

5) Smelting is extracting any metal from an ore using heat.

From these concepts I get this from the Proverbs and other Bible verses.

1) We are refined, not smelted, like valuable metal with impurities in, on and through us.

2) We must be put in the heat to separate those impurities from us. Think about friendships or relationships that had to be removed from our lives.

3) This process will be repeated and repeated and repeated.

4) Eventually it may be hard for others to easily see the impurities. We must be diligent to examine our motives and our hearts to get at underlying, imbedded impurities that are hard to identify.

5) God will weigh our impurities.

6) When we confess, we are dumping some of those impurities and we will weigh less!

I think we can be proactive in this refining process. I believe we can come to God with our motives and ask for help. When our impurities aren't hidden from God (as if THAT were possible), I'm guessing less heat of the furnace is necessary. We can also ask godly people around us to help us see our impurities. This requires a great deal of trust and may be hard to find but how do we see the impurities if they aren't pointed out and examined?

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

In trying to learn a bit about this smelting/refining process I found a phrase that I like: "Gold can be concentrated and recovered". (see link for whole process) I like that. Gold in us can be concentrated and recovered. No matter what we've done to introduce the impurities, the gold in us can be recovered. God made us in His image, which is pure. And for those who believe in Jesus, we will be without impurities someday. Let's try to recover the golden image of God until that day comes.

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