“For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.” Psalms 66:10
Clay in itself has very little value. But if we mould it into different shapes and sizes of bowls, plates and tableware, the value of it increases. Likewise, before being purified, the silver that we mined with the residual still attached to it is not going to fetch us much money. But if we get rid of the residual by putting it through fire, such purification process will increase the value of it. Furthermore, when we use it as ornament, the value will increase even more.
Before God chooses us to proclaim His majesty and sovereignty and uses us as His honorable vessels in His appointed time, we must go through a period of training and testing to make sure everything is perfect. When things turn out to be good, all of us will indeed feel proud for what we have achieved.
By meditating upon the word of God, His word is like a fire which will rid us of our worldly nature. It is never easy to go through unpleasant moment but if that does not happen, we shall never change. Without change, we cannot improve. For those who love God, even though they are going through a bad patch in life and things are not going their way, they see it as part of God’s training. Everything that happens today is good for tomorrow.
For those who feel that you are in the midst of fire, if this is from God, the fire will not be “too hot” beyond what you can bear. The training and testing from God will just be about right for us. For us to be His honorable vessels, we shape ourselves just like Him, a vessel of love, kindness, faithfulness, true worshipper, who always listens and obey. That’s what God wants us to be, to honor Him in everything we do.