Why Do You Sometimes Have to Walk Through Fire?

by Rick Warren — May 14, 2020

“I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering.”

Isaiah 48:10 (NLT)

What’s got you tied up? What’s limiting you from being all God meant for you to be?

God can use the trials in your life to eliminate what’s holding you back.

No one likes those times when things get stressful, deadlines are coming too fast, and expectations seem unreachable. But sometimes God uses heat in your life to burn off the stuff that’s tying you down. You just need to trust God through the pain.

God says in Isaiah 48:10, “I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering” (NLT).

It’s unlikely you’ll literally go through a fiery furnace in your life, but you’ll go through the furnace of suffering many, many times. God promises to refine you with that fire.

It’s like silver and gold. When it’s heated up, all the impurities are burned off. Then, you’re left with 100 percent gold or silver.

If you ask a silversmith how to know when silver is pure, he’ll tell you it happens when you can see your reflection while looking into the cauldron.

God knows you’re purified when he can see his own reflection in you, because you look more like Jesus Christ.

Only the fire can do that in your life.

Talk It Over

  • What are some of the refining trials God has brought you through? How have they made you more like Jesus?
  • Sometimes it’s easier to turn away from Christ in the midst of our suffering instead of allowing it to make us more like him. Why is this so?
  • Why is it important for others to see that trials make us depend on God’s strength and not our own?

Give hope, prayer, and encouragement below. Post a comment & talk about it.