Refine Me, Please

Scripture
Zechariah 13:8 - I'll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires. I'll refine them as silver is refined, test them for purity as gold is tested. Then they'll pray to me by name and I'll answer them personally.

The refining process isn't a fun process. For silver or gold the cost is high - the shape and beauty are melted away and lost in order to let the impurities float to the tope to be scraped away by the refiner. What's left is incredibly more valuable.

In our lives the refining process usually involves the loss of a relationship, relational stress, financial or job loss, broken dreams - you name it. Never fun. But when we allow the refiner to do his work, something more valuable grows out of the pain.

Intimacy with God.

THEN we pray to God by name and get a personal answer. After the refining.

The pathway to God requires refining. We avoid wherever possible. BUT, it is the pathway we should embrace - short term pain for long term gain.

Father, refine me, please.