Title: Sweet Podium
Contents
1. Introduction
1) Background of the text
- God spoke His thoughts to the people of Israel through the prophet Isaiah. At that time, their hearts were hardened, and their love for God faded amid material prosperity and secularization. Through the prophet, God delivers the word of judgment that God's wrath will come to the people of Israel who have sinned, and then comforts them again. Through the text, God shows once again that He is the one who refines Israel, and the purpose of the refinement is so that the people of Israel may live for the glory of God's name.
2) Two reactions to the podium
- God has two responses to the refinement. ① The first is the case of receiving refinement, but failing to discover the God who refines it. At this point, their hearts are filled with fear. They call on the name of God and ask for help, but it is not to return to God, but to avoid the suffering they are experiencing. So he suffers in many pains and difficulties, but he does not find God in it. In it, they think of God's wrath and think that God is avenging their disobedience, and they are tormented by lawsuits of conscience and soul.
- ②The second is the case of discovering God through the refinement. There are people who did not seek God at first, but eventually find God through refinement. They realize that the trials they are going through are not God's revenge, and they discover that God has a plan to heal them through the trials. When we discover it, our life becomes simple. And in it, we realize that God is the ultimate ruler of all our lives, meet God through the refinement, and earnestly desire God to rescue us.
2. Two podiums: “not like silver”
- The Prophet says that God does not make saints like the refiners of silver. The smelter's purpose in refining silver is to burn or melt the silver to remove impurities mixed with it, so he doesn't particularly care about the silver being heated. The purpose of God's refinement to purify the saints is also the same as the refiner refines silver. However, there is a clear difference in the method.
- When refining the saints, God does not send a powerful fire without looking at the state of silver like a smelter refines silver, but sends the fire of refinement by looking at the condition and situation of the saints. So, while God is always testing us, He gives us amazing comfort so that we can endure it, so that we can taste the sweetness of it. Therefore, there is nothing we cannot endure during the trials we are going through.
3. Consolation received during the rehearsal
1) The identity of comfort: God’s love
- The comfort we receive in the midst of refinement is God's love. When God shows us that he loves us, we become thankful in all the trials. So the writer of Hebrews says that God disciplines those he loves, and if there is no discipline in discipline, he is an illegitimate child. God shakes us so that we can see the true nature of our sins and greed, which have become comfortable for us like long-wearing gods, and make us realize how painful the things we loved were to God.
2) How to comfort you
- First, God gives us comfort by hearing our prayers. We can live in any circumstance as long as we can sincerely pray no matter what kind of refinement we are in, and if we have a personal experience of God in that prayer. By hearing our prayers in the midst of refinement, God gives us comfort by giving us strong confidence.
- Second, God gives comfort by speaking. The psalmist confesses that it is the good of suffering that we come to understand the ordinances of the Lord through suffering (Psalm 119:71). How sweet is the voice of God that is heard when the heart is weary in the agony of tribulation and the pain of conscience does not know what to do. He can feel the love of God in the words heard in the midst of the pulpit. God wants to hear the prayers of His people and speak to them. So today, God is looking for people who are looking for you.
4. Application and Conclusion
- Recognize that the refinement we receive through tribulation and trials that the Lord gives us is what we really need, and we must allow the Lord to refine us sufficiently, acknowledging that it is a way to pour out the corruption in us through this refinement. We must become saints who delight in being completely melted and broken until we form the image of the Lord.