Friend,
I pray this blog can encourage you, as studying about trials and being refined by God has encouraged me.
2 Corinthians 12:9: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I want to focus this week on the first part of this verse. His grace is sufficient for me. What does this mean for my life? How can I apply this practically? I wanted to truly look at the context of this particular verse. Paul was longing for relief from the thorn in his flesh, his trial. He stated in verse 8 that he pleaded with the Lord for it to depart from him. And, like in many trials we face, God continued to allow the fire of refining to burn. He did not lift it from Paul, and sometimes He does not lift it from our lives.
I started thinking about references to refining in the Bible. The definition of refining is: " to free (something, such as metal, sugar, or oil) from impurities or unwanted material". I looked into how gold really is refined. When a silversmith or goldsmith needs to refine a metal, he holds it directly into the fire (the hottest heat) to melt away waste & for precious metal to stand alone.
Isaiah 48:10: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.”
Proverbs 17:3: “The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests hearts.”
Job 23:10: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”
When we are enduring a trial, it is as if He is melting away the dross, or waste, so that we can come forth as gold. For instance, Job had lost everything. He lost his wife, his family, his worldly possessions. And in the end, he came out as gold. God used this trial to make him more like Himself.
What does it mean for God's grace to be sufficient for us, though? In true Kat form, I looked up the definition of sufficient: " enough to meet the needs of a situation or a proposed end." Enough to meet our needs. God's grace is enough for us in our trials; it is constantly available to us. 2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
My prayer is to truly know and understand the glory of His grace being enough for me. I pray that for you as well.
Kat
