The Work of the Silversmith

It is always helpful and blessed to see God in His sovereignty behind the circumstances. He sits at the helm. Nothing happens that He doesn’t allow. At the same time, we are to know that He has only thoughts of peace towards us and that all things work together for good to those who love Him (see Rom. 8:28). 

God often uses suffering and difficulties to educate us and make us more like Christ. The following thoughts highlight this in a striking way: 

“A visitor was watching a silversmith heating silver in his crucible. The fire underneath was getting hotter and hotter. All the time, the smith was looking intently into the crucible from close range. 

“Why are you watching the silver so closely?” the visitor asked. 

“I’m looking at my face,” was the reply. “When I can see my face in the silver, I stop. Then the work is done.” 

Why did the silversmith light the fire under the silver? To purify it and make it perfect. Is God in his chastening like an executioner who executes a sentence on us? No, but rather a purifying Power. 

What does the furnace of suffering and the painful struggle of chastening mean? God is waiting to see a face, the face of his Son. For He has “predestined [us] to be conformed to the image of his Son,” (Rom. 8:29). And He cleanses us from everything that could tarnish or spoil that image. 

Like all wise parents, God also has a blueprint, a model, according to which He wants to shape the lives of His children. That model is Jesus Christ, and God’s great purpose is that “Christ may take form in you.” (L.B. Cowman / Zondervan Publishing House) 

J.P.S.