FORGED BY FIRE
Isaiah 48:10 - Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
FORGED BY FIRE
Isaiah 48:10 - Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
We all too often worry about the detailed contextual meaning but the real personal meaning goes even deeper that we want to imagine. [Note: I will be giving my personal thoughts; I may be wrong, then I may be right}.
When you think of fire you think of burning but when it comes to the forging process fire is used to burn the impurities out of any metals. During the whole process the steel, metal, and even gold becomes harder and stronger. Couple the process with daily life some of what we call struggles might be in fact a purifying process to make us stronger.
”If the work of anyone will be burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, but so as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:15 - Berean Literal Bible
As we go through the flames of life some of what is not good and is weak drops of and we loose that part of us or our lives. However, we are not lost, we are saved by going through the fire. We may feel the heat from the fires of life but we are not consumed, burnt up by it. This is the promise of Scripture that if we are saved.
Even as Job went through the many afflictions he went through that had to have felt like a fiery furnace, even he prevailed and was victorious because he kept his eye on God and trusted Him. In our inability to find God does not in any way interfere with his perfect knowledge of me. God knows both "the way of the righteous".
Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Job 23:10
Even the Psalmist David testified to this as well. Through the calamity bad things come our way as a trial, to prove and purify. Most of which is not our own and even that which is our own still is a testing of ourselves. The calamity under which Israel had suffered was very long but they prevailed in victory.
For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
Psalm 66:10
In life if we don’t have a proper firm-solid foundation life itself will feel like a fiery furnace. This is why a proper study of Scriptures, a proper spiritual foundation in God and upon His word and we must believe in Yeshua Jesus Christ to complete that proper foundation.
”For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11
When a Blacksmith makes a sword he must lay the proper foundational materials used in the forging process or the end result will be a faulty product.
3 forging techniques in blacksmithing - taken to a Biblical Perspective;
Bending; the world can bend you all kinds of directions and even the devil can manipulate you causing you to sway and bend radically.
Punching; at times people may punch you both figuratively or metaphysically. It’s how you react that counts. Do you duck, do you weave and bob?
Drawing; Much like the process of thinning: We cannot become too thin and spread out because we loos a certain thickness required to be firm in our foundation.
READ MORE The Crucial - Blacksmithing.
This sister in Christ sums it all up. Take a listen to her. She’s dead on when it comes to
Purification by fire.
Scripture to go along with her great expository devotional.
"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. [4] Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years." Malachi Chapter 3
Commentary Explanation:
Malachi 3:3-4 And he shall sit as a refiner — He shall be diligently employed in his office, in performing which he shall resemble a refiner and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons of Levi — And whereas the misconduct of the sons of Levi has been very great, (particularly of those who have been taken notice of and reproved in the foregoing chapters,) the Messiah when he comes will reform these abuses, and purify the worship of God from such corruptions. And purge them as gold and silver — The effect of this fiery trial, and purifying furnace, shall be the thorough cleansing of the persons that are to pass through it. Not all the sons of Levi, says Houbigant, “for the similitude is taken from gold and silver, which being purified there remains some dross behind. So it happened after the ministration of Jesus Christ: a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith, also see Acts 6:7.
Please watch now.
End the end we all become a finely shaped and sharp blade of truth to be used as a testimonial witness of God’s handy-work. Don’t be afraid of the fire. Do not fear the furnance. for God and Jesus are with us through all of life; we just have stay near to Him and rely on Him and His promises for He is our truth and our foundation. Through the guidance of His Holy Spirit we shall make through.
I hope and pray this all made sense and blesses you. Be Blessed & SHALOM!
KLC