In the Crucible
But he knows the way that I take;
When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
(Job 23:10 NKJV)
For you, O God, have tested us; you have refined us as silver is refined.
(Psalm 66:10 NKJV)
I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.
(Zechariah 13:9 NIV)
In the crucible—the toughest place to be. It’s a time of testing. It’s hard. It’s painful. It sometimes feels never-ending. But God knows the plan He has for your life, and He knows what trials and heartaches are going to come your way. So He prepares you for them, and sometimes it is in the crucible.
Consider it a privilege. It means God believes you are worth molding and shaping. It means He has a greater purpose for your life that He is preparing you for.
My son do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights (Proverbs 3:11-12 NKJV).
The metalworker heats the metal in his crucible until it becomes liquid and the impurities (dross) bubble up to the surface. He then skims it off and boils the metal, again and again, constantly scooping the dross off the top until the moment the metal is pure and he can see his reflection in it. God does the same with us. He boils us again and again, skimming the impurities off the surface until His image is reflected in us.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold (1 Peter 1:7 NLT).
John Rippon in his hymn, “How Firm a Foundation”, pens it beautifully:
When through fiery trials, thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Elijah was in the crucible at Zarephath. The word Zarephath comes from the Hebrew word that means “to melt” or “to smelt.” Zarephath was a place of refinement, a place of purification by fire, for Elijah.
After Elijah called out King Ahab and Queen Jezebel for their wicked, idolatrous ways, God hid Elijah by a brook at Cherith to protect him from the vengeful king and queen. During that time, God provided a fresh spring of water for Elijah to drink from and ravens to airlift food to him. But then it came time for the life of comparative ease to end and for Elijah to be tested further. So God sent him into the crucible at Zarephath. God knew what He had planned for Elijah, and it was going to require great strength and faith. The first test he faced was potential starvation when he discovered the widow God had told him to go to was in dire straits herself. He had to trust God to keep the small amount of oil and flour remaining in her pantry flowing as long as was needed. That was only the first test, more followed. But at the end of it all, Elijah came out stronger than before and ready to face his biggest challenge yet—the Baal priests at Mount Carmel.
Elijah may have avoided death and gone to heaven in a chariot of fire, but according to James, “Elijah was just as human as we are (James 5:17 CEB). He faced the same trials and disappointments we do, and had to undergo the same testing and trying by God.
The Lord also tested Joseph when he was sold as a slave, taken to Egypt, and forced to endure two years in prison. God knew exactly what Joseph was going to need when he became second-in-command in Egypt, and He prepared him for the task ahead with all that came before it. It was through Joseph that many lives were saved in the time of famine.
He sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him (Psalm 105:17-19 NKJV).
Unfortunately, trials are not optional. God has not promised a life without trials. Suffering serves an important purpose in our lives; He uses it to shape us into His image.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10 NKJV).
The one thing to hold on to, while you are in the smelting pot, is that, just as God was in the fire with Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, He is also in the fire with you. Warren Wiersbe said it beautifully, “When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. His loving heart knows how much and how long.”
God will not leave you in the crucible one minute longer than is necessary. And when you emerge, you will be tested and refined, and on the path to becoming pure gold.
