Refiner's Fire

Isa 64:1-12, (NASB)

1Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence2As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!3When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.4For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

Amazing Truth! There is no God besides our Father in Heaven! No one or thing compares to Him. He is all knowing, gracious, full of mercy, Creator of all things. On our own we cannot comprehend who God is, that is why He reveals Himself to His people. All others are blind cannot comprehend or see our God. Also says God acts for the one who waits for Him. So we are to wait for the Lord, rest and think upon Him. When hard times come wait upon the Lord. Lately I've given up, thinking that God wouldn't bring comfort or a happy day or something other than trials. But here Im reminded just wait. He'll show up, comfort you.. things will be okay.

5You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?6For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Children of God realize that their righteous deeds are worthless.. like filthy garment. They realized they couldn't be saved by their own deeds. Even in the Old Testament Gods children knew it wasn't about what they did. All their good works were filthy. Everything we do is tainted by sin, the only good thing in us is Christ.. the only good we do is His work. Oh how often I know that my iniquities like the wind take me away from the Lord. I need Him to bring me back, to lead me to repentance and change my life.

7There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.8But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Oh how I love this verse! Listen first they are talking about God hiding from them, how the sin has overtaken them in their life. Then they proclaim Gods Truth. You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter. So their afflictions being overwhelmed by sin and feeling like God is not there is His doing. He is the Potter so He shapes us... we are the clay, so we are the work of His Hand.

This goes both ways if you remember Revelations. God shapes everyone so His children are the work of His hands and nonelect the evil ones are the work of His hand. And who are we to question Him? We are either Gods children or we are not. He has either given us Truth or He has hidden it from us. He either loves us or He does not. Its rather quite simple. If we have Truth, we are His children.

Wow so the people talking say that God is their Father, so they are His children. And yet God hid His face from them and delievered them into their iniquities. Do you ever feel like that today? The trials of life, the hardships... feeling like God is not there but your surrounded by sin?

Well we can rejoice and remember that God is molding us, and shaping us into a beautiful pot. You ever make a pot? Its kinda messy at first.. just a glob of clay.. then the Potter must shape it, paint it, glaze it, fire it. WHAT A PROCESS! And even in that I remember another verse in Pslams refiners fire.. that we'd come out as gold. Its not easy being shaped in a beautiful clay pot by God. It hurts... and theres a lot of trials that come our way that the Lord uses to teach us. I see that more now than ever.. and we are to stay hopeful, to rest in the Lord an wait upon Him.

9Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.10Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.11Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin.12Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

Gods people then even realized that it was the Lord who afflicted them, not themselves nor Satan. They knew that God causes all things. Tho they may not have understood, they still knew that God is sovereign. That He is their salvation, that nothing they do matters.

He is the Potter and we are the Clay. Nothing we do or say matters.. God is our Father and He will shape us and mold us. His Will be done.