The purpose of tests and trials we endure are bigger than our meager understanding of God’s plans and what He uses in our lives to express His glory.
This verse in Isaiah tells us that afflictions may feel like being in a furnace. We can’t always escape the heat, pressure and pain. We learn some hard lessons and may wonder why we’re going through such a difficult time. When the furnace doors open and we emerge from the flames—cooling and morphing from the experience—we know we’re different. We’ve changed. We’ve grown to experience a deeper dependence on God.
Others will be exposed to the same trials you endure. Their furnace experience may not be all that dissimilar from yours. How can you help? What encouragement can you give? How can you testify that in the thick of the smoke and flames God stood in the gap for you and was by your side? This is where we define God in His glory and testify that He’s by our side through the fires of life.
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