When We’re Going Through The Fire

To those of you who know  the story of Job in the Old Testament of the Bible,  you will know that he had a tough time in life.  There will be no argument when it is said of him, “Job went through the fire.”  Job had every reason known to man to get mad at God for allowing the terrible times he endured in his life.  Yet, Job made a choice to keep on trusting God. Even his closest friends did not understand that trust.  Feeling alone in his situation couldn’t have helped; even so, Job clung to his decision to trust God with the outcome of all he was going through.

No one on earth is exempt from going through the fires of trouble in this world.  It’s the attitude we maintain that gets us through unscathed, emerging even better than when the troubles began.  We can learn something most valuable from the words of Job.  You see, Job did not rely on his feelings, and that’s a good thing, because Job felt rather abandoned. These are his words, recorded in Job 23:8-9, “I go east, but He is not there.  I go west, but I cannot find Him.  I do not see Him in the north, for He is hidden.  I turn to the south, but I cannot  find Him.”   In other words, Job felt all alone in this world — alone with his troubles.  But here’s what we learn from Job.  He made a decision not to operate in the realm of his feelings.  He operated within the realm of what he trusted.  Let’s read the next verse and we see the attitude that Job took, “But He knows where I am going.  And when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”  Job chose to trust in God’s care for him, even when, at the moments of his greatest trials, he could not even sense God’s presence with him.

Have you ever had opportunity to watch a blacksmith at work?  Metal is put into a blazing fire.  If you glimpse into that fire, what you see is not pretty.  It’s just a blob of molten nothing.  However, the blacksmith is skilled.  The blacksmith molds and cools the metal; what emerges is something beautiful.  If left a blob in the fire, it would never be useful, but the master blacksmith knows just how to handle what’s in the fire.  The blacksmith knows that what will come forth is something fit and useful.

It’s the same when we trust our lives into the proficient hands of our heavenly Father.  Like a skilled blacksmith, when the fires of trouble turn us into a blob of nothing pretty, our Father’s loving and caring hands are molding us.  He knows that if, like Job, we choose to trust Him even when the fires of trouble hurt the most, we are going to emerge better than ever.  We are going to be something beautiful, and more useful than we could have ever imagined possible.

When we, like Job, take on the attitude of trusting almighty God, when it doesn’t feel like He’s around; when we keep our eyes on Him, even when it seems all the light of any joy has faded away; then, we can proclaim with the certainty of all hope, that — My God knows where I am going!  He knows I’m in the fire.  He knows what He is molding me into through these great difficulties.  Therefore, I know — I know — I know — I will emerge triumphant, full of joy, and blessed to overflowing!  That’s how my God works!

When that certainly becomes the attitude of our hearts, we will know, that whatever comes across our paths, whatever tries to burn us and hurt us, our God is constantly watching over us.  Our God is taking anything the world meant for bad, and He is turning it into our good.  That’s the Father heart of God.  He loves to bring His children through the fire and present them blessed and joyful to the world!

May the attitude of Job live in you and in me — the attitude of absolute trust, even when the troubles of this world have set us on fire.  Then, we will be blessed in the joy of hope fulfilled; we will, as Job proclaimed, “come forth as gold!”