Lump or Beauty?

 

The Value of the Refiners’ Fire

“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”

Isaiah 48:10 (NKJV)

     Television popularized the mining of precious metal when they introduced “Gold Rush”, where miners of old times left deposits too fine for them to adequately collect. Today, with gold prices climbing, the economics of moving tons of dirt to acquire a few grams of metal is viable. At the end of the work season the owners put the gold in a crucible to melt it at almost 2,000 degrees. When the gold liquifies, it releases all the impurities of dirt and other minerals. Because gold is heavier, it settles to the bottom. The refiner then removes the floating impurities and pours the liquid gold into small molds. If done correctly, the result is a bar of 99.999% pure metal.

     What most people think of as a valuable substance in that bar of gold doesn’t compare to the value of what the gold can yield. Craftsmen use gold in a number of ways. Only a tiny bit of the pure gold is needed because the metal has a peculiar trait. It can be mechanically thinned down to cover a huge area. One Troy ounce of gold can be beaten into a sheet covering over ninety-six square feet. Another way to look at it involves stretching the gold to its thinnest sustainable diameter, 5 microns. One ounce of gold this thin will run a wire 50 miles. Either way you look at it, refined gold is more valuable in a craftsman’s hands than left as a bar.

     Scripture compares the refiners’ fire of gold and silver to God’s refining man. Like gold, a refined man isn’t his most valuable. Only after he subjects himself to the Master Craftsman’s hands does one’s true value become evident.

     Writers resemble gold, but like gold in the raw, we start out with impurities. We study, learn our craft, accept critiques, and refine our work. We experience rejection in our submissions. We may find a mentor. Each piece we write adds perseverance and refinement as we learn.  

     In our Christian life, God desires to refine and hammer us into the most valuable creation possible. Trials, afflictions, and disappointments--mountain tops and valleys, edits and rewrites in our life-- prepare us to be the best for God’s purposes and glory. In the refining process, our value is clarified and value is multiplied.

   Take heart, writers. Personal and professional refinement is a life-long process. At each place, as we submit to the crucible and the process, we are in God’s plan.

My continued thanks to the mentors and teachers in the Upstate SC Word Weavers chapter.