Would you like to possess a treasure more precious than gold? What it is? A faith which has been tested and proved. Pure gold is obtained only after the refiner’s fire has removed all impurities. Far more precious is a pure and strong faith which is possible only after it has been severely tried. All of us would like to have the treasure, but we shrink back from the necessary testing. Job concluded: “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (23:10).
To fellow Christians Peter wrote: “Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perished, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6, 7).
Using this same figure of speech, Malachi pictures God as an assayer sitting by his crucible watching: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:3).
Fire is used both to purify and to test gold. Even that which is pure may be tested. By the refiner’s fire Job was not so much purified. Difficulties show what men are. “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” (prov.24:10). By adversity God’s children today can be both purified and proved.
The Uses of Adversity
Some non-Christian religions teach how to bear adversity, but only Christ teaches how to use it as a cherished blessing to purify, ennoble and lead a step closer to God. In the familiar words of Shakespeare:
Sweet are the uses of adversity
Which like the toad, ugly and venomous
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
We never really get our great sorrows, and our Father does not intend for us to. He intends for their cleansing and refining power to be so completely absorbed into the very fiber of our being that we will never be the same again.
To Achieve Life’s Major Purpose
Life’s major purpose is not happiness, but holiness. Then happiness is a by-product. One who aims at heaven enjoys the best of earth. One who aims at earth loses both. We may sum up the use of adversity by saying: it helps to achieve the various aspects of spiritual growth which constitute holiness. Adversity increases our reliance upon God. When all goes too well, we are lulled into a false sense of security and tend to think we don’t need Anybody Else. We can never learn to trust the Lord completely in the midst of comfortable surroundings. But when we are knocked to our knees with a blow so staggering that every nerve winces and our soul cries out in agony, then we look upward. Abraham Lincoln said: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
When Peter began to sink in the tumultuous sea, he cried: “Lord, save me” (Matt.14:30).If his walk had been smooth and successful, he never could have felt so acutely his absolute dependence upon divine aid. Paul and his co-workers were beset with such trials that they hit the depths of despondency and hopelessness. God permitted it, to teach them reliance upon him (II Cor. 1:8-10).
Compiled by Mrs. Joylie S. Thang Lien
