God’s Refining Grace for Us

PRAY OVER THIS

“Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’” Ruth 2:5

 

PONDER THIS

Samuel Rutherford, a man who knew suffering, has been quoted as saying, “Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace.” Has it seemed like you’re a nail, and some hammer is coming out of nowhere, beating on you? Does it seem like you are a piece of metal, and there is some file that is gnawing and scraping and reducing you? Does it seem like you have been flung into a furnace and are being consumed? Remember that God holds the nail and the hammer. God holds the metal and the file. It is God who has allowed you to be in the furnace and watches over the furnace.

Ruth surely wondered, “Why this hammer? Why this file? Why this furnace of fire?” But if you back out and look at the bigger picture, you see that it was saving grace, it was sovereign grace, and it was God moving everything so that Ruth showed up just at the right time in the barley field when Boaz was there because God had a plan.

When have you experienced suffering that felt like a hammer, file, or furnace?

How does it encourage you to remember that God has a plan, even in difficult times?

PRACTICE THIS

Journal today about a time during which you were able to see God’s plan in very difficult circumstances.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

You Are Not Quite Like You Think You Are

BIBLE MEDITATION

“He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.” Malachi 3:3

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

You’re probably not aware of some things lurking in your heart. Let me explain. A while back, Joyce said something to me that upset me. I might as well be honest—it made me mad because it was true. She pushed a hot button somewhere, and what was in the murky recesses of my heart came up. Joyce didn’t put it there. She only brought it out. I was surprised and ashamed at the pride, arrogance, and insensitivity in my own heart.

I got alone with God and let Him say, “You’re not quite like you think you are, are you? There are some things in that old heart of yours that need to be refined out.”

When the refiner’s fire touches us, we’re going to think God is a thousand light-years away. My dear friend, we need to trust the goodness of God and rest in the goodness of God, because Malachi says He’s just sitting there during our refining with a sovereign, sympathetic, steadfast purpose.

Our refiner is the ruler and the Redeemer. He knows exactly what He’s doing to burn away the superficial and give us the supernatural. In the middle of your trial, trust His sovereign purpose.

ACTION POINT

Receive the grace of God. Recognize the goal of God. Rest in the goodness of God when you’re in the fire. Then you’ll reflect the glory of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers