Verse 5
"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
It had been a while since I thought about the ancient process of separating the dross (impurities) from the valuable metal. Here are some references to “dross” from the NIV:
Psalm 119:119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross; therefore I love
your statutes.
Proverbs 25:4Remove the dross from the silver, and out comes material for the
silversmith;
Isaiah 1:22Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with
water.
Isaiah 1:25I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities.
Ezekiel 22:18"Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them
are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the
dross of silver.
Ezekiel 22:19Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'Because you have all
become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
I was also lead to this portion of the Bible which assures us that we as Christians will suffer trials but through them we’ll be stronger or “refined.”
1 Peter 1:6-8 (New International Version)
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
2 comments:
As someone that works in a steel mill, I can relate with dross and how it hurts the quality of steel. It causes scabs in the finished product that are not only ugly but the also kill the strength of the finished goods. The bad thing is, once it's in the steel, you can't get it out unless you scrap it and start all over. I'm glad God's grace doesn't work like that aren't you! Great post bro!
Donny,
Thanks for pointing out how God's grace is best of all!
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