Prov 17:3, “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts”. Trials yield gold.
In your life, you will go through some trials that the Lord will orchestrate in order to make you a better child of God. He does not intend to harm you in these events; he intends to allow the test to make you stronger and more like him.
A common trial among believers is one in which you are tested to give up something you strongly desire to pursue a course the Lord desires for you. Abraham had to leave his family and land to go to Canaan. He had to give up Ishmael because the Lord would fulfill his promise in Isaac. Abraham was tempted to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And at the end of his ministry he was praying earnestly in the garden, “not my will, but thine, be done”, Lk 22:41.
Theodore Cuyler wrote in How To Be A Pastor, “Out of the school of trial the Master brings his ripest, holiest pupils. The best pruned vines yield the richest clusters; the brightest gold comes out of the hottest furnace”.
From the Lord, these trials yield gold. They burn out the dross of selfishness, ungodliness, and worldliness. They purify for the Lord a vessel of honor, suitable for the Master’s use and delight. We must come to the end of our will and enter into his will.
Trials yield gold. They produce in us:
Pure Gold.
Job 23:10, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold”. It was hard for Job to imagine that he would come forth as gold while in the midst of his trial. However, he believed what he said and what he had heard from God to be true. In fact, by the time we get to the end of the Book of Job, we find that he is solid gold.
How Firm A Foundation,
“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine”.
His object for us is pure gold. You won’t be sinless, but you will sin less.
Ps 17:3, “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress”.
Mal 3:3, “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”.
Perfect Gold.
Jas 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing”.
It’s takes trials to perfect you, to make you perfectly suitable for the Master’s plan. And trials yield gold.
Princely Gold.
1 Pet 1:6-7, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appeasing of Jesus Christ”.
Rom 2:7, 10 cross reference the honour and glory of 1 Pet 1:7
Rom 8:18, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”. We’ll reign with him in his kingdom. But we will never be prepared for the glory of this reign until he has proven us to be worthy of it.
Priceless Gold.
Rev 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich…”. Contrast, rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing. He wants us to have his eternal gold not the passing gold of the world. The gold of the world will melt with the elements. The gold of God will last forever.
God doesn’t sell his gold for money. You “buy” this at salvation. And by going through the trials. God’s trials yield gold.