Dear Christian, what is your attitude when you’re going through the Refiner’s fire?

The Bible speaks of "gold having to be refined in the fire" (Zecharaiah 13:9) to be made strong, to be made pure, and to be made worthy of being used and valued." 

The same thing applies to you and I, dear reader. Suppose you were born into this world and would never have any trials or circumstances that tested your faith. Would you have any kind of faith left? What would you believe in anyway? What would be the purpose of your existence?

To be honest, life would feel quite empty, no matter how much you'd try to fill it. 

Thus, just like the metaphoric vessel described above, we must go through the refiner's fire because the vessel that He's creating in us and through us needs to be proved strong to be used for something else later. 

So often, we don't want to go through the fire. We want an easy-going faith. We want an unchallenging life. But God says, "If that's the case, why would you need me? You wouldn't seek me, and your life would be completely self-absorbed. You wouldn't rely on me. You wouldn't even believe in my miracles. You wouldn't need miracles."  

Dear believer, your circumstance might be very, very painful. It might even be terrifying. But God planted you there for a reason. What would it be like to embrace the season of fire you're in as an opportunity to be refined by Him to be used for a greater purpose later? You may say, "I've called out to him a million times, but nothing is changing. He's still not listening." 

My questions would be: "But why does He HAVE to listen? Might we be asking out of our selfishness, and God doesn't want that for us? Maybe we're calling out to him with a sinful and self-righteous heart saying, God get me out of this mess, I can't handle it anymore." 

But He's saying, "No, I won't rescure you quite yet because I want to see you prove your faithfulness to me when things don't go your way and don't feel comfortable for your flesh. This is the Fire that will refine you. This is the trial that will rebuild you from the ground up. Just trust Me." 

Dear believer, in moments of pain like these, what would it be like to pray, "Lord, let your will be done in me, through me, and through the circumstance, I am in. Lord, whatever you want to teach me in this season of my life, help me be faithful to You. May you be glorified in this circumstance because Your ultimate purpose is to use this hardship, experience, and season for Your glory. Help me understand that, and more importantly, help me accept it. Let me go through whatever I need to in order to be more pleasing to you. I don't see what's ahead, but all I can do is trust that you're with me in this fire. I bless your name Father, even when it's hard to understand what you're doing. Amen"