Proverbs 17.3
“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.”
A crucible is a ceramic container in which metal is placed in a furnace and subjected to very high temperatures. During the process, the impurities (dross) rise to the top and are scraped away. What remains is a refined and purer form of the metal. In this verse, Proverbs uses the crucible metaphor to refer to the challenging situations in life.
The timeless message from Proverbs is that the Lord uses the difficult and challenging situations of life as a refining process. We grow and get stronger as we tenaciously, persistently act on the truth of God’s word in the midst of the challenges and difficulties of living in a fallen world. We grow in the crucible of everyday life.
This same message is found in the NT book of James. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1.2-4)
The first thing James addresses in his letter is how Christians should respond when they experience difficulties and adversity. It was top of mind for the early church, since the surrounding culture (both Jewish and Roman) was often hostile to the Christian faith. If you professed faith in Christ in the first century of the Roman Empire, there was a good chance you would experience serious persecution.
A significant number of professing Christians today seem to have the expectation that when a person believes in Jesus, life will get easier and more comfortable, and God will protect them from the hassles and difficulties that happen in the course of life. This, of course, is not the gospel. The Lord makes no such promises in scripture. When bad things happen (which they inevitably do), many Christians are quick to react with: “Why me?” or “How could God let this happen?” What follows is confusion and anger and doubt.
And big time stress.
What motivates people to believe in Jesus? Is it to serve Christ as Lord and be an agent of the Kingdom of God in the midst of a fallen and broken world, or is it to get saved and be happy and have God protect them from the hassles and difficulties of life?
Next week we are going to look at the crucible. We are going to examine how a follower of Christ should respond to the challenges, problems, and adversity of life in a fallen world. What should we do when bad things happen?
Next week we will go deeper into this topic, and we will consider four disciplines for responding to adversity as a follower of Jesus:
- Don’t be surprised. Be prepared.
- Don’t be fear-driven. Be faith-driven.
- Don’t be resentful. Be thankful.
- Don’t be self-centered. Be Christ-centered.
Adversity is a reality. It is also inevitable. No one wants it, but everyone gets it. The key variable is: How will you respond?
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5.1-5)
