Refining Fire

[I will return to Ephesians next week.]

We recently returned from the Big Island of Hawaii. Like last week, our time there reminded me of truths from Scripture. One of the days on the island, we drove to the Volcano National Park. When we visited in 2006, lava was flowing into the ocean. My husband and friend were able to hike across hardened lava from a previous eruption to get closer to the current flow.

Although there was no lava flowing, my husband and I wanted to go back to where we’d been eighteen years ago. There had been other eruptions since we were last there. The newer hardened lava formed a darker line setting it off from the lava flow of 2006, but that wasn’t the only difference. Where the lava flowed in 2006, now had patches of dried grass growing in it and sporadic starts of trees, bushes, and even flowers (see the cover photo).

I do not want to minimize the damaging effects and even death that an erupting volcano can cause or the hurt, loss, and grief people experience. However, there were encouraging and comforting truths I thought of as I looked at the lava field.

First, amazement that God could create new life to grow out of what once was molten hot and now hardened and dead looking. A few of the saplings even had fruit on them. Even more amazing, God made us who were dead in our trespasses and sin alive in Christ.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.[1]

Ephesians 2:1-7

Second, it took eighteen years for this small growth to happen. We get impatient. We want growth, change, and results immediately or at least by tomorrow. Sanctification is a process. We may not always see growth, but God is working, and He has promised to complete what He has begun (Philippians 1:6). All of the Hawaiian islands began as magma pushing up from the ocean floor. Yes, we saw the blackened, barren effects of recent lava, but on other parts of the island we could see nothing but green, lush plants and trees. In one day alone, we saw over fifty different kinds of flowers and several waterfalls, but none of the beauty we could now see happened over night. It all began with molten magma pushing up through the ocean floor.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers at seventeen years old, was Potiphar’s servant, and was put in jail. Thirteen years after being sold into slavery, Joseph served as Pharoah’s right hand man. Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born. Sarah was about ninety-one, barren all those years. The promised Messiah didn’t arrive on the scene instantly after Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:15). God’s timing is not our timing, but God’s timing is always perfect.

Third, the new life growing in the hardened lava reminded me of a verse from a few weeks ago: “You are good and do good; teach me your statutes” (Psalm 119:68). God was bringing forth good out of the once molten hot lava. As I watched the red, steaming lava pour into the ocean eighteen years ago, I did not think of any good coming out of it. This past week, I saw the good coming out of it.

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. [2]

Romans 5:3-5

The word for sufferings in Greek was used for pressure like the pressure put on an olive or grape to squeeze the oil or juice out. In the context of Romans 5, it referred to the suffering or pressure of persecution for faith in Jesus. Paul called the Romans to rejoice in persecution because God was doing good things in it (see also James 1:2-4) – producing endurance which produces character which in turn produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame.

We know from Romans 8:28-29 that God is working all things for His glory and our good, conforming us to the image of Jesus. Even if your fiery trial isn’t persecution for your faith (health issues, loss of job, a strained relationship, a rebellious child, etc.), God is producing good in it. As the psalmist said, “teach me your statutes,” we should be humble and receptive to know God and His Word better in our trials (times of well-being too).

I’m thankful God has opened my eyes to see so many of the good things He has done this summer. You may remember my husband and I had to cancel our twenty-fifth anniversary trip to Northern Europe three days before leaving because I had an appendectomy. As we sat in the airport waiting for our flight home from Hawaii, we both agreed how much more we enjoyed the things we did and saw in Hawaii then what we would have seen and done for the particular places we were stopping in Europe (other than visiting Jeremy’s cousin). One more way God was doing good through the appendectomy.

When refining fires come, rejoice that God is making all things new, that He has made you new, wait patiently, trusting God’s perfect timing, and cling to the truth that God is good and does good in all things.

Reflection

1.     What are specific ways you see differences between being dead in your trespasses and new life in Jesus?

2.     Do you get impatient with God’s timing? What do you need to trust to God’s perfect timing right now? Give examples of God’s perfect timing in the past.

3.     What are specific ways you have seen that God is good and doing good specifically in trials?

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:1–7.

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 5:2–5.