The refining fire
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

There is a false gospel that is prevalent in our culture today. We refer to it as the prosperity gospel. It says that God wants His people healthy, wealthy, and prosperous in all that they do. It misleads people into thinking that if we would live right or do right, God will #bless everything we touch. It is a message that says we can be who we want, we can do what we want, and we have a god that will make our dreams come true.
The God of the Bible works very differently than this among His people. He is transforming His people into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And to start with a rebellious sinner, as we all are, and transform them into a humble and willing servant takes a much more difficult turn in the road than we would often like to take.

Last week we started Psalm 66, and we saw where the Psalmist summons the whole earth to worship God for His mighty works. He invites everyone to the shores of the Red Sea to stand in awe of God’s mighty deliverance of His people as they passed through the sea on dry land, and as God then destroyed Pharoah and his army as they tried to follow. That seashore is both a place for joy and celebration for those who humbly bow before God, as well as a place of warning and judgment for those who continue in their rebellious ways.

When we make it to verse 9, the Psalmist begins to speak to God. And he does so from a different perspective. No longer does he speak to the whole earth, but rather as an individual among a particular group of people. The people he represents now are those who belong to God. Those unique people that God has claimed as His own through their faith in Jesus. And the way God treats these particular people can be surprising if you do not understand how God works among His people.

The first verse in this new section, verse 9, gives a wonderful promise for all those who are in Christ. “Who keeps us in life and does not allow our feet to slip,” (Psalm 66:9, NASB). What a comforting promise! We who belong to Christ are kept secure in life. God will not allow His own to fall or slip away. My favorite passage about being “kept by God” is found in Jude 1. We who belong to Christ are referred to as “beloved” and “kept.” Those two verbs teach us some wonderful things. First, both are in a Greek perfect tense, which means we, as Christians, stand in the fixed state of being loved and kept. Secondly, God is doing the action of both. So, the truth is this – you are loved and kept by God himself for all eternity. You are not keeping yourself in Him. He is keeping you. That’s where we stop and rejoice! God is amazing.

But, we do not possess the character of Jesus, and so God works faithfully in us to produce a Christ-like behavior. So how do you take a rebellious sinner at heart and transform him into the image of Christ, humble and obedient? Sunshine and chocolate and having success at every turn in life does not get the job done.
Our heavenly Father treats us exactly how a good earthly father should – He trains and disciplines us. How does He do that? The Psalmist describes it in this way, “For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined,” (v. 10, NASB). The only way to get dross out of silver is to crank up the heat. And the greater the heat, the more dross is removed and the purer the silver is produced. In other words, God does not leave us like He finds us, but rather refines us into His own character, and that most often requires difficulties to get the job done.