10 I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.
Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.
11 I will rescue you for my sake —
yes, for my own sake!
I will not let my reputation be tarnished,
and I will not share my glory with idols!
Isaiah 48:10-11, New Living Translation
- Could this be God?
What we hear in these verses is the direct speech of God, through the voice of His prophet. If one had heard this through a different voice, it might have been hard to accept it as the authentic word of God, but Isaiah is one whose prophetic authenticity we cannot doubt. Here, God Himself (not a devil) confesses to being behind the “furnace of suffering” of His chosen one, and states His purpose for the process.
- The Purpose of the Fire
There had been a furnace, a fire, a fire of suffering – not a cozy five-star vacation. The fire was intentioned as a refining process – for one beloved of the Father. In other words, sufferings can achieve refinement in a life, and God Himself could be behind the process some times. That is also to say that sufferings, despite their fiery intensity, are not always explainable as the consequence of the sufferer’s transgressions, as Job’s friends would blindly insist upon their unfortunate friend – forcing him to confess to sins he never committed (Job 25:4). There are preachers like them today – some of them ‘friends’ too, who would hardly concede that all suffering is not an expression of divine disfavour for sin.
In other translations of the Bible, for example, the King James Version and the New International Version, the word translated in our text as “suffering” is rendered as “affliction.” The original Hebrew word is `oniy, which means depression, misery, afflicted(-ion), trouble. I ask, can a loving God be truly involved in such an unpleasant process? Can He allow misery and troubles upon someone He loves? To what ultimate good?
The King James Version states, “Behold, I have refined thee … I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,” as if to suggest that there couldn’t have been a choosing without first a refining; or that the fiery refining was so that the beloved could be chosen. In other words, God does not choose whom He has not tested, tried, refined. The Good Shepherd, ‘good’ as He is, does not bring to the prepared table of bountiful refreshments the one who has not faithfully followed Him through the valley of trials; He does not bring to the place of the overflowing cup of grace and anointing the one who gave up before they have passed through the valley of the shadow of death. The path to that table and that cup often passes through that dark valley – no less under His loving shepherding (Psalm 23:4-5).
What the KJV translates as “chosen” in our text is presented as “tested” in other translations such as the NIV: “I have refined you … I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” In other words, again, the testing or affliction that God allows can serve the purpose of divine refinement. That is to say that God Himself is the Chief Engineer behind some fiery afflictions. Some “suffering” is merely a “test” to prove our content (Deuteronomy 8:2; Job 23:10; James 1:2; 1 Peter 1:7). True character often shows under fire.
- Preparation for Selection
However uncomfortable Isaiah 48:10 might seem, the next verse is consoling, stating that even when God lets us go through the fire, it is for our good and for His name’s sake. He does not abandon us while the process lasts. He says, “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. / How can I let myself be defamed?” (v.11), and, “Listen to me, O Jacob, / Israel, whom I have called: / I am he…” (Isaiah 48:11-12, NIV). In other words, the path of the truly “called” is sometimes through the refining fire of affliction. Every call is not to a party, often it is to a preparatory refining process, which could be fiery (Mark 3:14-15).
- Discerning the Fires
How can we know when it is God in the fiery process and when it is not? The answer is, His presence. The outer intensity of the fire won’t matter if we are able to tell His pleasure and presence despite the trial (or in the midst of it). The storms can never swallow the boat in which the Master is, even if He were just passive in sleep. He might have allowed it if He is in it with us (Luke 22:31-32).
Three Hebrew boys were thrown into a furnace. How were they to tell if the fire was not the consequence of their foolishness or a punishment from God? God joined them in the fire. That was all the assurance they needed. I am afraid, though, that those in the fire didn’t see the Fourth Man with them in it. It was the observers from outside the fire that noted it. And when they stepped out of the fire, only three boys walked out. Where was the Fourth Man (Daniel 3:24-25)?
Joseph was in years of consecutive trials and denials and imprisonment in a foreign land, but the scriptures always reported that “God was with him” (Genesis 39:2, 3, 21, 23). God’s presence was the sign that the afflictions were merely a process, and he could not be swallowed by them. Joseph himself was later to confess to their refining role in his life when he admitted to his perplexed brothers,
20 You plotted evil against me, BUT GOD turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. 21 You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you … (Gen 50:20-21, Good News Translation).
Something strikes me strongly from Joseph’s speech: “You plotted … but God…”; “You plotted evil … but God turned it …” In other words, the Joseph they had thrown into the mill of afflictions was not the same person that had come out at the other end of the process.
We could say the same of Jacob the Supplanter who became Israel the Prince with God. The difference between the two extreme varieties of the man was the dark night of a wrestling bout with the Almighty God, from which he emerged wounded in his flesh but transformed for life (Genesis 32:22-30). The wounding was his proud Identify thereafter, because it was, to him, the indelible signature of the Divine in his flesh. His presence…!
David could say in his afflictions while he fled from his demons-afflicted boss: “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will FEAR NO EVIL: [why?] for thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4). Despite the dreary dark valley, he could not be terrified. He was merely going “through” – because “thou ART with me.”
While the disciples endured the storm in Mark 4, they could not despair even though they were verily frightened. The Master was with them in the boat, so they could call to Him, “Master!” (Mark 4:38). His presence was their assurance.
- Discerning His Presence
How do I tell the fire that is God’s refining process from the fire that is not? The answer is: His presence. It is important to note, however, that the purpose of His presence is not always to restrain the tempter but to guide through the temptation; not to deliver FROM the fire but to deliver THROUGH the fire. His presence is not always to save us FROM trouble but to be with us IN it (Psalms 91: 15). So, we need not only to ascertain His presence in the fire but also discern the purpose of His presence. Stephen saw Jesus stand up on his account while he faced a murderous eminent council of the Jews. His face glowed with such angelic testimony that even his foes could not deny it, yet that divine Presence did not turn the killing stones of his foes into pleasant popcorns (Acts 6:15; 7:55-60).
To the Church in Smyrna, God wrote, “Don’t be afraid of anything you are ABOUT TO SUFFER. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test… Be faithful to me, even if it means death” (Revelation 2:8, Good News Translation). “About to suffer”? And all that God could do was just to give notice? Hmmmn, I thought that following God meant that one would NEVER suffer anything! Or am I reading my Bible upside down?
As if that is not bad enough, here comes Apostle John, reporting Jesus describing to Peter how ironically he would die; “by what death he should glorify God” (John 21:19). Does any death glory God? Do we glorify God by living or by death? What God, our God? Is death not the triumph of darkness over life? What an unwanted apostolic sermon!
- Ensuring His Presence
Be assured that your life is not an accident, and nothing can come your way that the Father has not permitted (Matthew 10:28-31; Job 1:10). Next, love the Lord despite the storms, and believe the Scriptures, that “all things” work together, and will continue to work together, for the good of those who love the Lord, who are called according to His purpose – which means, you (Romans 8:28). Look around to ensure that the Master is not grieved away by transgression (Judges 16:19-20), for “The way of transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). In other words, some hardness of pathway is the result of transgression.
Jesus was in the wilderness, tempted for forty days and as many nights. There were devils and wild beasts threatening His soul and His flesh, but there were also angels there to minister to Him (Mark 1:13). The angels of God were the Lord’s guarantee that as surely as the Holy Spirit had “led” Him into that wilderness, He was also going to “return” better than He had gone in (Luke 4:1, 14). The presence of the Father could not be compromised (John 8:29; Mathew 17:5). It was His sure guarantee through the process of fire. Amen.
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
From The Preacher’s diary,
September 30, 2022.