While studying Malachi 3:3 a group of women read, ‘He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ This puzzled some of the women and they wondered what this statement implied about the nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and asked to watch him work. As she carefully observed him, she noticed that he held a piece of silver over the fire to let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest to burn away all of the impurities. The woman thought about how God occasionally holds us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time? The man answered, ‘Yes, indeed.’ In fact, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he also had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, the silver would be destroyed. The woman went silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’
He smiled at her and answered, ’Oh, that’s easy. It’s refined when I see my image in it.’
Elizabeth
