If you’re like me and have had more than one occasion when you accidentally touch a hot stove, car, or perhaps even your hair straightener, you know that your first reflex is to pull away as quickly as possible. We instinctively know that we can’t be too close to fire and heat for too long. It’s literally wired into our brains, and unless you’re really stubborn, once you’ve been burned by something, you tend to keep your distance for a while, or at least be a little more careful.
And the more I think about it, this concept isn’t limited to literal fire. Something (which I’m not going to go into detail about) happened last week that left me feeling hurt, insulted, and a whole barrage of other emotions that were impossible to internalize and deal with all at once. And by impossible I almost mean levels at which I know what it feels like to be Bruce Banner. Don’t worry, I didn’t turn into a big green rage monster and terrorize New York City, but let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant at all for a few days following that incident.
So what’s my point? While I was trying to sort out my feelings, whether or not they were justified, and what would be the next steps in this situation, it was brought to my attention (by a trusted friend who patiently listened to me talk about this whole thing without trying to offer solutions right there) that there was a lot to be learned from what happened, and once I let my anger and frustration die down, just casting it off as nothing without trying to learn something from it would be pointless.
It can be so easy to want to run away from difficult things and forget they ever happened. But instead of jumping back when a situation gets “heated,” we can let God use that heat to shape and mold us so we can grow from what might be a painful experience – let Him refine us.
“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.”
-Isaiah 48:10
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.
-Malachi 3:2
