Refiner’s Fire
Are you interested in stretching your faith? Are you curious about how much tolerance you have during extreme circumstances? To adequately answer these questions all you would have to do is travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
When I fly to the DRC it takes three days. I fly out of Atlanta, GA to Europe and then make three to four stops in Africa before finally landing in Kananga. On one particular trip years ago, we boarded a bush plane in Kananga in the DRC and flew for 300 miles before landing in the jungle. I say land, but, we actually crashed. Nobody was hurt, however, we were without a plane. We had already traveled for three grueling days. It was 5pm and the only option we had was to pile into the back of pickup trucks.
We rode in the back of those trucks until 5am the following day. After driving across the DRC hanging onto the side of the trucks, we were able to sleep for two hours on a concrete floor in an abandoned building. We then carried all our gear down to the river where there was a dugout canoe waiting for us. For the next nine hours we traversed the Lubi River north until we reached the Sankuru River outside of Lusambo. We picked up our Rivers of the World (ROW) staff in Lusambo and kept traveling north until it got dark. After being up for over 36 hours, we finally were able to set up our tents on a sandbar.
I bathed in the nearby river, came back to my tent, pulled back my rain fly and climbed into the tent. I laid down in the tent and positioned myself so I could look up at the stars. I began thinking, “Lord, I have got sand in my teeth, there’s sand in my hair and I’ve got sand in my ears. I am 40 something years old. Is this it? Is this what you want out of my life?”
Do you know who I thought about? I thought about the Apostle Paul who was obedient and traveled to Macedonia. We at ROW were obedient and went to the DRC. When Paul arrived in Macedonia he got thrown in jail. Paul ended up in the slammer and I ended up on a sandbar. What’s the difference? While in jail, Paul and Silas begun singing hymns and praising God. I began grumbling and complaining about sand being everywhere on my body.
We often wonder what the purpose is of the trials and tribulations we face in this life. To get a glimpse of the reason, read 1 Peter 1:6-7:
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Instead of complaining the next time you encounter thorns instead of roses in your life, praise Him for considering you worthy enough to have your faith be tested. The muscles on our body can only grow and become stronger through exercise and effort, which sometimes brings about pain and discomfort. This is true with our faith. It can only grow and mature when we immerse ourselves in the trials of this life and allow God to have His way through the experience. It may be painful for a season, but you can rest assured that the impurities of your life will be washed away and you will emerge with a faith of more worth than gold.
