"Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have tested thee in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10
It is to the glory of God that pain and suffering are not meaningless. The ravages of sin upon this earth have done nothing to deter His holy will, and the evils of affliction He has harnessed as refining fires. Any Christianity that does not make room for the horror of great darkness is a false Christianity.
Those who claim that darkness and despair, pain and suffering are issues separate from Christianity know nothing of Jesus Christ: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.." (Isaiah 53:3-5). The life of our Lord was bound up in the glorious victory that God had wrought over affliction, a victory wrought by passing through affliction. Would to God that His children would grasp this truth: Christianity touched upon all the areas of life, including the dark ones. The Christianity of amiableness and gaiety, of sunshine and flowers, is not the Christianity of the Cross, the Christianity of refining fire. Do we really believe that all things work together for good? That afflictions are the fires that refine us and draw us to God? The world needs such good news.
"The Refiner's Fire,
Has now become my soul desire.
Purged and cleansed and purified
That the Lord be glorified..."
(from Steve Green, "The Refiner's Fire")
-Jon Vowell
It is to the glory of God that pain and suffering are not meaningless. The ravages of sin upon this earth have done nothing to deter His holy will, and the evils of affliction He has harnessed as refining fires. Any Christianity that does not make room for the horror of great darkness is a false Christianity.
Those who claim that darkness and despair, pain and suffering are issues separate from Christianity know nothing of Jesus Christ: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.." (Isaiah 53:3-5). The life of our Lord was bound up in the glorious victory that God had wrought over affliction, a victory wrought by passing through affliction. Would to God that His children would grasp this truth: Christianity touched upon all the areas of life, including the dark ones. The Christianity of amiableness and gaiety, of sunshine and flowers, is not the Christianity of the Cross, the Christianity of refining fire. Do we really believe that all things work together for good? That afflictions are the fires that refine us and draw us to God? The world needs such good news.
"The Refiner's Fire,
Has now become my soul desire.
Purged and cleansed and purified
That the Lord be glorified..."
(from Steve Green, "The Refiner's Fire")
-Jon Vowell
1 comment:
Found your website when I was looking up some views on the fact that Christ trusted no man. i am a Christian Education Counselor - and I believe it is my role to encourage others to seek God, not put their trust in man (even me as a counselor VS the Wonderful Counselor), and I have run in to some opposing views from others in the profession. Appreciate your insights - thanks! my website is www.davidhill.org
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