Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10
The purest silver is extremely soft, beautifully malleable and solders easily with minimal tarnishing. It is only strengthened when alloyed with other metals! So Lord, what is this saying here or is it a mistranslation?
Silver is typically refined by a process of cupellation which is placing it upon bone ash and raising to temperatures by which the metal is molten and oxygen is blown on it until the impurities are absorbed in the bone ash!
In this scripture, the furnace of suffering is the element representing the fire! Not the physical way of cupellation! Why the statement of Matthew 20:16? Answer is part explained in Isaiah 48:10! The chosen are put through suffering! (Heb. 5:8 (TPT). Times of suffering are times to listen to God, to hear Him and obey Him—setting a pattern for these to follow as the chosen too! The result of the process is to produce a character that conforms totally to the desires of the Lord! No coloration with anything else! Romans 8:28-30, a realization that triggered Paul’s prayer in Philippians 3:9-11! Follow and pass through the same process as the Lord!
So dear child of God, you need more than a calling, you need character to have credibility before God! Calling never gets anyone in trouble, it is character that does or lack of it! When you have to live with a “no” when you want a “yes”, when you are relegated to the backroom when you want a public ministry, reduced to “one verse” like Shamgar when the general pattern is many chapters in the Holy Bible! Lord, am I really ready for Your service?
Purify me more than gold, so I might be bold to say my body is Your sanctuary, that I am in life union with You, You expressing yourself through me!
Selah
Pastor Afolabi Oladele
Folasade lucy
I’m blessed by the sermon sir. I really want GOD to purify me. So I might be bold to say my body is GOD sanctuary. I need more prayer