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Here's an encouragement for whenever you are facing hard times.
There was a group of women in a Bible Study on the book of Malachi 3 and came across verse three, which says: "He will
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. "This verse puzzled the women 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, this woman called up 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 hotspot then she thought again about the verse,that "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."
Isn't that just like God? I always knew that when silver was refined, the smith held it in his hand the whole time, but I never thought about Him being nearby all that while, nor how He knew when the silver was finished.
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Leslie
~That would be an awfully big adventure.
~Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
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A Refiner Of Silver, Food for thought
