Who/What is the Refiner’s Fire?
I was sharing with a friend how the song “Refiner’s Fire” by Steve Green had helped to hold me together when terror struck and I didn’t think I could survive. My first official task in my new job had turned out to be one of those times (A Difficult Beginning).
“Wanda, have you ever thought that God has been letting you actually experience the refiner’s fire physically so you can help others understand what the refiner’s fire is?” my friend asked.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our affliction,
so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings,
so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (ESV)
My friend mentioned some of the wording from Refiner’s Fire and how it reminded her of my descriptions of what I feel physically.
Refiner’s Fire by Steve Green
There burns a fire with sacred heat
White hot with holy flame
And all who dare pass through its blaze
Will not emerge the same
Some as bronze, and some as silver
Some as gold, then with great skill
All are hammered by their sufferings
On the anvil of His will
Chorus:
The Refiner’s fire
Has now become my soul’s desire
Purged and cleansed and purified
That the Lord be glorified
He is consuming my soul
Refining me, making me whole
No matter what I may lose
I choose the Refiner’s fire
I’m learning now to trust His touch
To crave the fire’s embrace
For though my past with sin was etched
His mercies did erase
Each time His purging cleanses deeper
I’m not sure that I’ll survive
Yet the strength in growing weaker
Keeps my hungry soul alive
Are you walking through the refiner’s fire?
My CHALLENGE to you —
Let’s grab a cup of coffee … imagine you and I are sitting together chatting.
For a better understanding of what the refiner’s fire is, read or listen to this sermon by John Piper.
Below is an outline of the sermon.
A Word of Warning and a Word of Hope
- He is a refiner’s fire, and that makes all the difference. A refiner’s fire does not destroy indiscriminately like a forest fire.
- There will always be a proper “fear and trembling” in the process of becoming pure.
- The furnace of affliction in the family of God is always for refinement, never for destruction.
1. Who Is Like a Refiner’s Fire?
2. Why Must He Be Like a Refiner’s Fire?
3. How Can We Experience His Fire as Refining and Not Consuming?
4. What Is Life Like in the Refiner’s Fire?
Next page: Christmas 2017
