Eliphaz mentioned God and gold in the last chapter: “Yes, the Almighty will be your gold \/ And your precious silver;” (Job 22:25). Job picked up on the idea and described how life is filled with tests that refine the believer like gold. Or you might say that in the furnace of trials and suffering, we become God’s gold. If gold is your god, then the furnace of affliction will weaken and embitter you. But if you are God\u2019s gold, the furnace of affliction will purify and better you.<\/p>\n
British author Malcolm Muggeridge said it well shortly before his death:<\/p>\n
\nContrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful, with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Pastor A. Purnell Bailey (whose \u201cOur Daily Bread\u201d newspaper column inspired people around the world for 66 years) wrote of visiting an orange grove where a shared irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die from lack of water. The man giving the tour took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. “These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks,” he said. “You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth.” God wants us to not just survive the hard times but to grow stronger and purer through them.<\/p>\n
“Thank You, LORD, for Your hand of care on us this day.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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Job 23 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0Then Job answered and said,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Even to day\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.\u00a0\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0Oh that I knew where I might find him!\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>I might come\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>to his seat!\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0I would order\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0I would know the words\u00a0which\u00a0<\/em>he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0Will he plead against me with\u00a0his\u00a0<\/em>great power? No; but he would put\u00a0strength\u00a0<\/em>in me.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 8<\/sup>\u00a0Behold, I go forward, but he\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0there;\u00a0<\/em>and backward, but I cannot perceive him:\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold\u00a0him:\u00a0<\/em>he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see\u00a0him:\u00a0<\/em>10<\/sup>\u00a0But he knoweth the way that I take:\u00a0when\u00a0<\/em>he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.\u00a0\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary\u00a0food<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0But he\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>in one\u00a0mind\u00a0<\/em>, and who can turn him? and\u00a0what\u00a0<\/em>his soul desireth, even\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>he doeth.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0For he performeth\u00a0the thing that is\u00a0<\/em>appointed for me: and many such\u00a0things are\u00a0<\/em>with him.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:\u00a017<\/sup>Because I was not cut off before the darkness,\u00a0neither\u00a0<\/em>hath he covered the darkness from my face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eliphaz mentioned God and gold in the last chapter: “Yes, the Almighty will be your gold \/ And your precious silver;” (Job 22:25). Job picked up on the idea and described how life is filled with tests that refine the believer like gold. Or you might say that in the furnace of trials and suffering, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7615"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16462,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7615\/revisions\/16462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}