Refined in the Fire

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Today's reading, titled Refined in the Fire, was written by Linda Washington. 24 karat gold is nearly 100% gold with few impurities, but that percentage is difficult to achieve. Refiners most commonly use one of two methods for the purification process. The Miller process is the quickest and least expensive, but the resulting gold is only about 99.95% pure. The Woe Wheel process takes a little more time and costs more, but the gold produced is 99.99% pure. In Bible times, refiners used fire as a gold purifier.

Fire caused impurities to rise to the surface for easier removal. In his first letter to believers in Jesus throughout Asia Minor, or Northern Turkey, the Apostle Peter used the gold refining process as a metaphor for the way trials work in the life of a believer. At that time, many believers were being persecuted by the Romans for their faith in Christ.

Peter knew what that was like firsthand. But persecution, Peter explained, brings out the genuineness of our faith. Perhaps you feel like you're in a refiner's fire, feeling the heat of setbacks, illness or other challenges. But hardship is often the process by which God purifies the gold of our faith. In our pain, we might beg God to quickly end the process, but He knows what's best for us, even when life hurts. Keep connected to the Savior, seeking His comfort and peace.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. In all this 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.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Let's pray. O Heavenly Father, we pray that You work in us to perfect us and make us more like You, just as the refiners purify gold. Little by little, step by step, take our sinful habits away. Help us to grow closer to You and to rely on You when we go through difficult times. Suffering isn't easy, but it grows us so much more than when everything is going well for us. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen. Today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.