Daily Devotional
               Betty Miller shares her daily devotionals which are based on the book of Proverbs in the Bible.   

  The Wisdom of God

Verses for the Day:

Proverbs 17:3(KJV): "The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts."

Proverbs 17:3(Amp): "The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tries the hearts.

Thoughts for the Day:

In this verse in Proverbs we see an analogy between the refining of silver and gold and the refining of God's people. In another verse in Proverbs we have a fuller explanation for what this means.

Proverbs 27:21: "As the refining pot for silver and the furnace for gold (bring forth all the impurities of the metal), so let a man be in his trial of praise (ridding it of all that is base or insincere) -- for a man is judged by what he praises and of what he boasts."

The Bible tells us that God tries all men's hearts to find out what is in them.  How does God do this? The way God tests or tries us is to give each of us a choice when we are faced with temptation or evil.  We can yield to the pressure that the devil brings against us or we can resist him and stand in faith to receive the promises of God.  No matter what the devil tries to do to destroy our faith, we have been given a way to overcome him through the power of the Holy Spirit. We can stand in our trail praising God that we believe He will deliver us or we can turn on God and blame Him for our trials and troubles.  

Just as the furnace is heated up to bring out the impurities in the gold and silver, when the devil "heats up" our circumstances to make it look like God will not come through, that is when we will see the things that are in our hearts.   Sometimes fear, doubt and unbelief will come our of our hearts and if we do not turn to God for deliverance from these things, we will be overcome by them.  We must choose to have faith in God and depend on His Word in our moments of trial.  God will not fail us if we stand in faith looking to our God for our answers. 

It may not be fear or unbelief that we are struggling with, it can be anger, deceitfulness, lust, jealously, pride, etc.  In moments of temptation, we will meet those things that are in our hearts. The only way that we can have victory is to call on God to deliver us from the evil of our own hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9-10: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind)?  I the Lord, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

The Lord does not send evil to test us, as evil does not proceed from Him.   He already told us in His Word that evil is already present in this world because of sin.  He gave us instructions how to overcome the devil and sin and made a way through the power of the Holy Spirit for us to be able to do it.  We must choose to resist the the devil and sin, as God will not do this for us.  When we choose to do what is right and what His Word says, then God will empower us through the Holy Spirit to overcome every sin and attack of the devil.  Each time we pass a test, we grow in His righteousness.

Malachi 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."

In the process of refining gold, it is heated up to a very high temperature. This causes the impurities to come to the top and then that dross is scooped off of the gold.  This process is repeated, as each time the temperature is increased.   When there is no more dross that floats to the top and the refiner can look at the gold as a mirror and see his own image, he knows that the gold is finally pure.  This is the same process that we, as God's children, go through. The gold (God's children) are not destroyed in this process, they simply become pliable and can be molded into the image of God. Through the process they eventually reflect the beauty of God Himself.

Prayer for the Day:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for being patient with me in my trials. I have failed many of my tests the first time around, but because of Your love and mercy, I have been given another chance to overcome.  Each time You have strengthened me until I have been able to overcome the devil with his temptations.  Lord, I do want to be conformed into Your image.  It seems so impossible, but You said that with You there is nothing impossible, so I am believing You to do the work in my life that is necessary so that I might overcome and please You.  Lord, be merciful and help all of us, Your children. I ask this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.