December 18.
God’s Gold

1 Peter 5:10

But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

God doesn’t make you suffer because He hates you. He is bringing the best out of you. A goldsmith puts his gold in a pot and then turns the fire on. The goldsmith will go occasionally and stand over the pot and look. If he can’t see the reflection of his face, he backs up and turns up the fire. When he can finally see the reflection of his face, he knows the gold is pure. In the same way the Lord puts us in the pot and turns up the fire of circumstances and suffering in our lives until He can see His reflection in our lives. You may not know why you are going through what you’re going through. Know you are just in the fire. God has something better for you, but He has to get you ready for what He wants you to have. You are Gods gold.

Suffering produces results in our lives. It will make you perfect or fit. The word perfect means mature. If you haven’t gone through anything, you have a lot of childish stuff in you. A child wants a lot of attention. A child will pout. A child is jealous of another child who sits on his mommas knee. And a child will cry if they drop their toy or if you turn off the television. They pout and cry and have tantrums if they don’t get their way. When you are mature, you will know that God is working in you for your good.

Establish you. Suffering will make you firm. You can build a fence by digging holes and putting in posts, but it won’t be firm. You need to put cement in the bottom of the hole first. When you try to do stuff on you own, you’re not established because winds of adversity will show up. The first lie you hear will knock you out or throw up your hands in the first crisis. But when God establishes you he cements you down with his love and firms you with his grace. When the winds of adversity come, you don’t move.