JOB 23:10 – “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

THEME OF THE DAY: GOD’S FURNACE OF AFFLICTION.   Today’s scripture might very well be one of the most important statements Job makes in his intense trial and suffering.  This godly man endured the hottest furnace of affliction possible.  These words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah so described Job’s experience to the extreme – “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). But it wasn’t just Job.  Every Christian will be put in God’s furnace of affliction time and time again. It is the pilgrim way as defined by the Lord. In the case of Job, his suffering was not because of sin, and that will also be true of us.

Back to Job.  His statement in today’s scripture is so amazing because of the depth of suffering he was experiencing.   When we are being put in God’s furnace of affliction, we are not quick to embrace it with joy and submission.  Those must be learned.

Another truth we are to learn in the furnace of affliction is true prayer.  Too often in seasons of pain and suffering, our prayers are more pleas for comfort and deliverance than for spiritual growth and submission.  This too must be learned, and the goal is to respond to the heat in the furnace like Job and what we witness with Paul and Silas.

These missionaries were severely persecuted in Philippi. God was doing amazing work through them, and it caused an uproar.  We pick up their story in the middle of Acts 16.

“But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:19-25).

This was an intense furnace.  They were not only persecuted verbally but their garments were torn from them, then they were beaten with a rod consisting of not a few strokes, but many.  To add to the heat of the furnace, they were tossed into prison.  Picture these bleeding men, in great pain, in a dark prison, and how did they respond? Worship – “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” How could they?  And here is an incredible and encouraging truth; when God sends us into His furnace of affliction, He goes with us in His furnace of affliction and when the Presence of the Lord is with His people, worship occurs, yes, even in suffering.

So, God’s furnace of affliction.  We will go there often.  It is painful but for our good. There are lessons about the Lord, us, and the Christian life which may only been learned in the furnace!

PRAYER: Father, help me to learn to respond in the furnace of affliction in the manner that pleases You.

REFLECTION:  Be quicker to learn God’s lessons in the furnace of affliction than to plead for deliverance.