LORD,
Hold me. Love me. Help me. Your power goes beyond even these things. YOU hold the world in YOUR hands and I want to feel YOUR arms wrapped around me. I want to hear YOU whisper that YOU love and YOU’RE here and its okay. LORD, change the beating of my heart. I hate that so often only in brokenness do I cry out to YOU. YOU are I AM, more than enough, all I need, my unfailing lover, hope, joy, beauty, grace, forgiveness, love, peace, patience, gentleness, the lap I can crawl into to find encouragement and comfort, truth, life. Most things YOU are I do not know for I’m far from understanding them in my mind; it’s too weak to comprehend. LORD, YOU are my SOURCE.
YOU have said “Look for MY face.” My heart said to YOU, “O LORD, YOUR face will I look for.”-Ps. 27:8
It is HIS face I want to see. I want to be gazing on HIM, seeking to understand HIM, transforming into HIS image.
I PUT other things in the way sometimes and sometimes I let things block HIM.
I read this devotional once. It was on Malachi 3:3a, “HE will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” These ladies were studying Malachi when they came across this verse and they didn’t understand. So, one of them volunteered to research the process of silver refining and report back to the rest of the ladies. She made an appointment with a silversmith but didn’t really say anything about why she was really there. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and 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 so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that 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 silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was 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 the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."
The woman was 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 the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."
Amazing! GOD wants to transform humans (me) into himself. Our sorority verse is 2 Cor. 3:18, “For we all with unveiled face, reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the LORD, are being transformed from glory to glory even as by the SPIRIT of the LORD.” HIS goodness and power make no sense. HIS love I may never understand. HE sits and watches us to make sure the fire isn’t too hot. HE holds us in a fire and yet keeps us safe at the same time. In HIS patience, HE waits until HE can see Himself when HE looks at us.
GOD,
I pray that YOU take every thought captive. I pray that I trust YOU as the refiner. LORD, show me when I’m allowing things to cool the fire for which YOU have me in. Give me patience, perseverance, and a heart after YOUR’s. Thank YOU.
