Sunday 6th September
Read Jeremiah 6:27-30
“‘I have made you a tester of metals
and my people the ore,
that you may observe
and test their ways.
28 They are all hardened rebels,
going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
they all act corruptly.
29 The bellows blow fiercely
to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
the wicked are not purged out.
30 They are called rejected silver,
because the Lord has rejected them.’” (NIVUK)
Jeremiah changes careers and becomes a metallurgist! He went from street to street searching one righteous person amongst the rich and poor and failed to find one (Jeremiah 5:1-9). God now asks him to refine and purify the people, to find the sliver of silver within them.
We have a beautiful description of the way in which metals were refined in ancient times. Lead was added and heated so that it oxidised and reacted with the impurities which could then be scorched away leaving the pure silver behind. Jeremiah however found nothing left. All was impure ore. No silver at all. The refining was in vain and all that was left was judgment.
God continues to refine His people, burning away the impurities in our hearts also. Not even gold survives His refining, but, in Jesus, we will not be found wanting.
“In all 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 the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour 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, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:6-9) (NIVUK)
