God's Refinement Process

“Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives
 and kept our feet from slipping.  For you, God, tested us;
you refined us like silver.  You brought us into prison
 and laid burdens on our backs.  You let people ride over our heads;
 we went through fire and water,
 but you brought us to a place of abundance.” (Psalm 66:8-12 NIV)

At the start of every school year there are freshmen who struggle with being away from home for the first time and adjusting to the vast differences of college life compared to what they have previously known. It is a problem for universities across the country because it affects their retention rates.  Freshmen are much more likely to drop out of school or transfer to a school closer to home than any other students.  

Starting college away from home is the beginning of a refining process for young men and women that will lead them to become adults. But with it comes the temptation to chuck the process and return to the familiar, to the comforts of home.  

In reality, it is not just 18-year-old freshmen for whom the prospect of profound change tempts them to return the comfortable and the familiar. That is true for nearly all of us. We tend to be hesitant toward or even resist change in our lives.  A young man hesitates to propose to his girlfriend; a college senior puts off job hunting and contemplates grad school as her next step; an abused spouse remains because the familiar is at least known; a man is forced into retirement because he has hung on in fear of what the future holds.   

For most of us who have lived awhile, the truth is growth increases when we are placed in uncomfortable situations, either of our own choosing or by the circumstances of life.  When I look back on my life, the greatest growth has come from the uncomfortable and difficult times, and, thankfully, most of them were situations from which I could not run, such as the illnesses and deaths of my parents when I was in my early 20’s, and my first wife’s abandonment in my 40’s.  There were also times where I chose the uncomfortable and the unfamiliar, such as going to Eastern Europe for a six-week missionary internship after college, and taking a position with a struggling ministry in a place where I knew no one. God used all of these to refine me as a man and as a disciple. None were easy; all of them challenged me to my very core.  But I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences because I can see how the Lord has used them in my life to grow me into the person He created me to be.  

Many have the view that God’s greatest desire is for them to be comfortable and enjoy life.  But this view denies God’s use of the refining process to mold us into the people He created us to be.  We are fallen beings as we are; He wants to remake us.  And the only way to do that is to refine us, which includes experiencing uncomfortable and sometimes painful circumstances.

Today, know God desires what is ultimately best for you.  If you find yourself in an uncomfortable spot in life, know this is part of His refinement process.  Don’t run from it or resist it.  Instead, embrace it and allow Him to use it for your good.  

© Jim Musser 2014