The Furnace of Suffering

 Every person who has ever been born has endured times of suffering. Yes, some have more than others, but we all suffer. Most of us think of suffering as a very bad thing, and we want to escape anything that causes us pain. That is the wrong way to think. God always has a purpose for allowing suffering or for sending it into our life. It is meant to refine us.

God gave this truth to Israel in Isaiah's day. (Isaiah 48:10) God told them that He had refined them by sending them into Babylon. He did not refine them as silver is refined. Rather, He refined them in the furnace of suffering. See, their suffering was in the plan of God to make them better, not bitter.

When we suffer, we have choices to make. We can get angry about it or we can get depressed, but what we need to do is go to the Lord and ask Him to give us the grace to handle the suffering with a good attitude. Then, we need to pray fervently for Him to show us what we need to learn about ourselves and what we need to allow Him to change.

The furnace of suffering is designed to burn away anything in our life that doesn't look like Jesus. It is to humble us, and to give us longsuffering, as well as patience. It is to increase our faith, so we are confident that we can do all things through Christ and His strength. It is to make us shine before others because our impurities have been refined away, and we are more and more like Jesus.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 49-52.